Extraction of Bioactive Components from Leaf by Pulse Electric Field Extraction
摘要
Plant contains numerous types of bioactive compounds also referred to as “phytoconstituents” including alkaloids, terpenes, glycosides, saponins, polysaccharides, and phenolics. Leaves tend to have high concentration of these compounds which find their applications in pharmaceuticals (drug development and delivery), food (preservatives and additives), and agriculture industry (pesticides and biofertilizers). Limitations like lower yield, usage of more solvent, and longer duration along with thermal degradation of the products are associated with the conventional modes of extracting these biologically active substances. On the contrary, pulse electric field (PEF) being a non-thermal technology facilitates more convenient and efficient extraction of bioactive compounds besides other advantages like economic viability and yield improvement. This chapter provides a comprehensive description of the use of PEF technique in order to obtain economically important bioactive components from plant leaves. The precautions to be taken for the prevention of degradation of bioactive substances have also been discussed at the end to minimize the loss during the process.