In recent years, deep eutectic solvent (DES) has attracted a great deal of attention as an environmentally friendly solvent and could be used as an alternative to conventional solvents. In this study, 34 choline and betaine-based deep eutectic solvents were prepared and investigated the ability to extract apigenin and luteolin from the celery seed. The results showed that DES composed of betaine hydrochloride and propylene glycol had the best extraction efficiency. Using one factor at a time combined with response surface methodology, the optimal conditions of extraction were determined as follows: time of extraction: 19 min, extraction temperature: 75 °C, the water content in solvent: 40% (w/w). Antisolvent (water) combined with distillation was proposed as an efficient method to recover apigenin and luteolin from the DES extract. The relationship between components of DES and solubility of apigenin, luteolin was also established which was the starting point for the prediction of extractability of DES. Molecular dynamics revealed that betaine hydrochloride and propylene glycol could interact with each other by the formation of two types of hydrogen bond while water molecules might play an important role in the ability to dissolve apigenin and luteolin of DES.
Reference
standards including apigenin (purity: 98.03%) and luteolin (purity: 99.55%) were provided by Biopurify Phytochemicals Ltd., China.
