Extraction and Quantification of Plant-Based Carotenoids
摘要
Carotenoids are an essential part of the human diet and are found in a lot of fruits and vegetables. Maintaining human health requires consuming a diet high in several key vitamins and minerals. A type of naturally occurring fat-soluble pigment known as carotenoid, or tetraterpenoid, is made up of eight molecules of five-carbon isoprenoid. A hydrocarbon with 40 carbon atoms and two terminal rings that can give rise to yellow, orange, or red hue makes up a carotenoid. Nowadays, more than 600 carotenoids have been identified in nature, and the average human diet contains roughly 40 of them. Two categories of carotenoids exist: the oxygen-containing xanthophylls (which include lutein, astaxanthin, and zeaxanthin) and the hydrocarbon carotenoids, or carotenes (which include lycopene, β-carotene, and α-carotene). This chapter explains different techniques used for the extraction of carotenoids: conventional methods, such as Soxhlet extraction, maceration extraction, and accelerated solvent extraction, and novel methods, which include ultrasound extraction (UAE), microwave-assisted extraction (MWE), and enzyme-assisted extraction (EAE).