RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Tangerine peel is rich in flavonoids, particularly hesperidin, which has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anticancer biological activities. However, it is often wasted during citrus processing. The current common extraction method for hesperidin is solvent extraction, which has the characteristics of low extraction rate and high contamination. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of pulsed electric field-assisted alkali dissolution extraction, followed by an acidification precipitation method, on the extraction rate and structure of hesperidin from tangerine peel. RESULTS: The results showed that the selected factors (material/liquid ratio, electric field intensity and pulse number) had a significant effect on the extraction yield. An optimum condition of 66.00 mL g-1, 4.00 kV cm-1 and 35.00 pulses gave the maximum amount (669.38 µg mL-1), which was consistent with the theoretically predicted value by software (672.10 µg mL-1), indicating that the extraction process was feasible. In addition, the purified extract was further identified as hesperidin from UV and NMR spectra. CONCLUSION: An appropriate strength of pulsed electric field-assisted alkali dissolution extraction followed by an acidification precipitation method can effectively improve the extraction rate of orange peel, and the purity of the extracted orange peel is higher. Compared with the traditional extraction, the pulsed electric field-assisted extraction method may be a potential technology for hesperidin extraction, which is beneficial for the high-value utilization of citrus resources. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.