Hydrothermal Degradation of Rutin: Identification of Degradation Products and Kinetics Study

The model glycoside compound quercetin-3-O-rutinoside (rutin) was subjected to subcritical water within the temperature range of 120–220 °C, and the hydrothermal degradation products were analyzed. Two kinetic models describing the degradation of this compound in two different atmospheres (N2 and CO2), used for pressure establishment in the reactor, have been developed and compared. Reaction was considered a successive one with three irreversible steps. We confirmed that rutin degradation to quercetin follows first-order kinetics. At higher temperatures quercetin is further degraded in two degradation steps. Formations of 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid and catechol were described with the zero-order kinetic models. Reaction rate constants for hydrolysis of glycoside to aglycone in a CO2 atmosphere are higher compared to those in a N2 atmosphere, whereas at higher temperatures reaction rate constants for further two successive reactions of aglycone degradation are slightly lower in the presence of CO2. The difference in reaction activation energies is practically negligible for both gases. Furthermore, degradation products of sugar moieties, that is, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural and 5-methylfurfural, were also detected and analyzed.