Empleo de la radiación ultrasónica para la extracción de compuestos bioactivos provenientes de fuentes naturales. Estado actual y perspectivas

Abstract

In recent years, clean technologies have been developed for high efficiency extracting of isolation of biologically active compounds from natural sources, without the loss of biological activity, with good yield and high purity. Ultrasound-assisted extraction has low instrumental requirements and their implementation is very appropriate where the stability of the active component to be removed is affected by the high temperatures of conventional processes. In this paper it is evaluated the state of the art of ultrasound-assisted extraction of bioactive compounds from various natural sources, its mechanism, the parameters governing its use and research perspectives in this field. Ultrasonic cavitation phenomenon promotes cell wall rupture, reduction of particle size and tissue permeability, which facilitates the diffusion of the solvent into the inert part of the plant material and increasing the mass transferred through membranes. This mechanism explains the high efficiency of ultrasound-assisted extraction as it allows to reduce the time, temperature and amounts of solvent extraction process with high yields and high purity of the extracted product. Currently there is a great demand for the use of ultrasound to industrial and current research lead to the development of larger scale reactors and the theoretical modeling of the parameters that determine efficient extraction.