Vol. 29 No. 1 (2015)
Articles

Use of liquefied cold temperature dimethyl ether for extraction of pigments from fresh vegetable tissues

A. Noriyasu
Faculty and Graduate School of Environmental Engineering, The University of Kitakyushu, Kitakyushu
H. Furukawa
Faculty and Graduate School of Environmental Engineering, The University of Kitakyushu, Kitakyushu
A. Kikuchi
Faculty and Graduate School of Environmental Engineering, The University of Kitakyushu, Kitakyushu
H. Takaichi
Faculty and Graduate School of Environmental Engineering, The University of Kitakyushu, Kitakyushu
François Bouteau
Université Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Institut des Eneregies de Demain (UMR8236), Paris
X. Li
Faculty and Graduate School of Environmental Engineering, The University of Kitakyushu, Kitakyushu
Syouhei Nishihama
Faculty and Graduate School of Environmental Engineering, The University of Kitakyushu, Kitakyushu
K. Yoshizuka
Faculty and Graduate School of Environmental Engineering, The University of Kitakyushu, Kitakyushu
Tomonori Kawano
Faculty and Graduate School of Environmental Engineering, The University of Kitakyushu, Kitakyushu

Published 2015-03-31

Keywords

  • carotenoids,
  • carrot,
  • chlorophyll,
  • DME,
  • Japanese squash

How to Cite

Noriyasu, A., Furukawa, H., Kikuchi, A., Takaichi, H., Bouteau, F., Li, X., Nishihama, S., Yoshizuka, K., & Kawano, T. (2015). Use of liquefied cold temperature dimethyl ether for extraction of pigments from fresh vegetable tissues. Advances in Horticultural Science, 29(1), 48–52. https://doi.org/10.13128/ahs-21306

Abstract

Dimethyl ether (DME) is known as a useful precursor to other organic compounds and is a promising alternative fuel without issues of toxicity, production, infrastructure, and transportation as is the case with various other fuels. Recently, DME has attracted the attention of scientists and engineers since it behaves as a subcritical solvent or a low-temperature solvent applicable for the extraction of organic molecules from bio-materials. This paper presents the extraction of chlorophylls and carotenoids from green peel and yellow cortex of Japanese squash, spinach leaves and carrot roots using low-temperature liquefied DME. Spectroscopic and fluorescence analyses of the extracted pigments revealed that chlorophylls were successfully extracted by liquefied DME from green materials (squash peel and spinach leaves). HPLC analysis further confirmed that chlorophylls extracted include both chlorophylls a and b. By using liquefied DME, carotenoids were extracted from all vegetable samples examined. The performance of DME as a novel pigment extracting agent is confirmed in this work and its use as a “green” solvent, as opposed to conventional solvents, for the preparation and extraction of various plant pigments is highly encouraged from an environmental point of view.

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