Determining the Optimum Conditions for Extracting Carotenoids from Syrian Apricot Fruits

The aim of this research is to extract carotenoids from apricot fruits using a food solvent (ethanol) and a non-food solvent (propanol). In addition, it aims to study the effect of different extraction conditions, i.e., the extraction temperature (20-40-60)°C and the extraction times (4-8-12) hours, on the carotenoids yield in order to improve and develop extraction methods. The extracted carotenoids were determined using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and the studied carotenoids are α-carotene and β-carotene. It was found that β-carotene constitutes about 80% of the total carotenoids in apricots. The results indicated that the extraction yield using ethanol was low compared to the extraction yield using propanol. Propanol is the most suitable solvent for carotenoids extraction in comparison with ethanol. The temperature also had a significant effect on the extraction yield; at 20°C the extraction yield was very low, and 60°C was the optimum temperature for the extraction of carotene. The extraction yield significantly increased with time in the first hours of extraction, and there was no significant effect from increasing the extraction time for a period of 6-8 hours. Moreover, the pretreatment of fruits by freezing accelerated the extraction process and increased the extraction yield. The optimum conditions for extracting carotenoids were determined in the conditions of food extraction; the optimum conditions for extracting carotenoids are: extraction at 60°C for three hours with pretreatment by freezing as the extraction rate reached up to 6.36 mg/100 g using ethanol as a food solvent.