Germinating Seeds of Citrus aurantium a Good Source of Bioactive Limonoids

A simple method to obtain extracts enriched in bioactive limonoids from Citrus aurantium L. seeds has been developed, using solvents of increasing polarity. 1H NMR data from the extracts revealed that the highest amounts of limonoids were present in the t-butylmethylether extract. The comparison between extracts obtained from dormant and germinating seeds showed that the latter contained almost double amounts of limonoids, revealing germinating seeds as an excellent source of those bioactive compounds.