Simultaneous microwave-assisted extraction of bioactive compounds from aged garlic

Area of Science:

• Food Science and Technology
• Analytical Chemistry
• Natural Product Chemistry

Background:

• Aged garlic contains valuable bioactive compounds like organosulfur compounds, carbohydrates, and phenolics.
• Optimized extraction methods are needed to obtain multifunctional aged garlic extracts for food applications.
• Previous analytical methods using HPLC-MS and HILIC-ELSD were refined for high sensitivity and accuracy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To optimize the simultaneous extraction of organosulfur compounds, carbohydrates, and total phenolic compounds from aged garlic.
• To develop a method for obtaining multifunctional aged garlic extracts for food ingredient applications.
• To evaluate microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) as an efficient technique for bioactive compound isolation.

Main Methods:

• Optimization of simultaneous extraction using water as solvent and microwave-assisted extraction (MAE).
• Application of a Box-Behnken experimental design to determine optimal extraction conditions (60 min, 120°C, 0.05 g mL⁻¹, 1 cycle).
• Utilized optimized analytical methods (HPLC-MS, HILIC-ELSD) for quantifying extracted bioactives.

Main Results:

• MAE successfully extracted organosulfur compounds (SAC, cycloalliin), amino acids (arginine, proline), and bioactive carbohydrates.
• Bioactive carbohydrates were detected in fresh and mildly processed aged garlic.
• All garlic extracts exhibited antioxidant activity, validating the extraction's efficacy.

Conclusions:

• The developed MAE methodology provides an efficient and successful alternative for simultaneous aged garlic bioactive extraction.
• The optimized method yields multifunctional extracts suitable for the food and nutraceutical industries.
• This research advances the utilization of aged garlic as a source of valuable food ingredients.