Optimization and stabilization of the antioxidant properties from Alkanet (Alkanna tinctoria) with natural deep eutectic solvents

Natural Deep eutectic solvents (NaDESs) are promising green solvents for the extraction of phytochemical compounds with antioxidant properties. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the behavior of the antioxidant properties of Alkanet (Alkanna tinctoria) root in hydrophilic NaDESs. For this purpose, two NaDESs constituted of sodium acetate:lactic acid (SALA12) and sodium acetate:formic acid (SAFA12) were synthesized to evaluate the antioxidant properties of Alkanet. 70% ethanol, 80% methanol and water were used as conventional solvents for comparison. SALA12 and SAFA12 were characterized considering their viscosities and FITR spectra. The extracts obtained with SALA12 and SAFA12 presented the best results when compared to the conventional solvents. The NaDES presented the highest extraction performance was SAFA12. This prominent NaDES was subjected to the response surface methodology using a Box-Behnken design to figure out the optimum conditions to have the maximum antioxidant activity of Alkanet root. For total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC) and DPPH radical scavenging, the optimum conditions were 1:4 molar ratio, 45% water content and 25% mL solvent ratio. The confirmed responses at the optimum conditions were 390.16 mg GAE/g, 10.69 mg ECE/g and 444.68 mmol TE/g, respectively. NaDES molar ratio and water content were found to impact most significantly the antioxidant properties Alkanet. The thermal stability experimentation revealed that phytochemicals along with the antioxidant properties of Alkanet were more stable in NaDES. These findings revealed that novel NaDES is an efficient green solvent for the extraction of bioactive compounds with antioxidant properties from plants.