A preliminary study on improving the extraction of phenolic compounds from cornelian cherry fruits

Abstract

Cornelian cherries (Cornus mas) are an excellent source of bioactive molecules that attracted the interest of many scientists activating in the field from medicine to food industry. The extraction of biologically active compounds is an important step in the development of new ingredients with increased functionality. This paper represents a preliminary study that aimed to explore the variables that have a significant effect on the recovery of total anthocyanins and total phenolic compounds from cornelian cherries during ultrasounds assisted extraction using Plackett–Burman design. Independent variables considered in the design were the number of extractions, solvent concentration, extraction temperature and extraction time. The mathematical model showed a satisfactory coefficient of determination (R2=0.74) while the number of extractions as well as solvent concentration were found to influence significantly the recovery of anthocyanins from cornelian cherries. This study enabled us to identify the variables that influenced the recovery of phenolic compounds from cornelian cherries, parameters that will be further used to optimize and validate the extraction of phytochemicals from cornelian cherry fruits.