Extracción asistida por ultrasonido de capsaicina a partir de las especies Capsicum chinense y Capsicum pubescens

Abstract

The current work aimed to extract capsaicin from two chili species, Capsicum chinense and Capsicum pubescens, using the ultrasound-assisted extraction method with ethanol as the solvent. Additionally, the aim was to determine the optimal extraction parameters and compare the performance of ultrasound-assisted extraction with the conventional Soxhlet method. For this purpose, a 32 experimental design was used, considering the extraction time and the volumetric fraction of ethanol as factors, with levels set at 10, 20, and 30 minutes, and 75, 85, and 95%, respectively. A two-factor analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed, and the Bonferroni statistic was applied to determine the optimal parameters. The results indicated that, for Capsicum chinense, the optimal extraction time was 20 minutes, while for Capsicum pubescens, it was 30 minutes. Furthermore, it was determined that the optimal volumetric fraction of ethanol for both species was 75%, resulting in capsaicin concentrations of 104.7 mg/L and 68.1 mg/L respectively, thus showing that Capsicum chinense had the highest capsaicin content. Finally, upon comparing the ultrasound-assisted extraction with the conventional Soxhlet method, a clear advantage of the ultrasound-assisted method was evidenced, as it reduced the extraction time, energy consumption, and operated at lower temperatures than the Soxhlet method.