Microwave-Assisted Green Extraction of Bioactive Compounds from Berries

High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide An environmentally friendly microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) method using ethanol/water under mild conditions was developed to extract phenolic acids and flavonoids from acerola, blackberries, and blueberry. The effects of temperature (30–60 °C), ethanol concentration (0–99% v/v), and extraction time (10–50 min) on total phenolic content were optimized by Doehlert design. The optimized procedure enabled extraction of up to 158 mg GAE g –1 dw and high extraction rates: 15.8 g min –1 (phenolics) and 24.8 mg min –1 (flavonoids), surpassing convective heating (0.6–2.1; 1.3–9.0 mg min –1 ), sequential extraction (1.1–1.7; 1.0–9.1 mg min –1 ), and ultrasound-assisted extraction (0.5–1.5; 0.6–5.4 mg min –1 ) using different solvents. Moreover, it extracted about 9- and 4-fold more quercetin (blackberry) and chlorogenic acids (blueberry) than convective heating and reduced the acerola extraction time from 200 to 10 min. The method provides a rapid, efficient, and sustainable alternative for food sample preparation (AGREEprep = 0.78), aligning with Green Chemistry principles.