Background/Aims: Extract optimisation not only results in a greater yield, but allows accurate quantitation of the compound and comparison between different cultivars of a species. While optimisation of anthocyanin extract has been described for a variety of fruits, extraction from the whole fruit of sweet cherries has not been comprehensively investigated. Our primary aim was to determine the optimal parameters for the extraction of anthocyanins from sweet cherries – specifically temperature and time of extraction, solvent to solid ratio, solvent type and solvent concentration.
Methods: Extractions with one or two independent variables were conducted using the edible portion of Prunus avium ‘Lapins’ cherries. The optimal condition for each parameter was based on total anthocyanin content (TAC), and was used for all subsequent optimisation experiments. TAC was calculated by summation of UPLC-derived peak areas, expressed as mg of cyanidin-3-glucoside equivalents per 100g fresh weights (mg/100gFW).
Results: Extraction for 90 minutes at 37oC, using 100% acidified ethanol at a solvent to solid ratio of 10mL/g, resulted in the highest TAC (243.5mg/100gFW).
Conclusion: The TAC of ‘Lapins’ cherries determined using the optimised protocol is more than twice that previously reported. Results from our study contradict previous anthocyanin extraction research, which advocates the use of either low temperature or short, high temperature extractions to maximise yield. The novel finding that extraction at physiological temperature results in the highest TAC is of significance when considering translation to in vivo applications.
Funding source: Researcher in Business grant.