Deep
eutectic solvents (DESs) are emerging as green and sustainable
solvents for efficient extraction of bioactive compounds or drugs.
This work aimed to comprehensively evaluate the potential and effectiveness
of DESs for extraction of different types of natural compounds from
biomass. Five Chinese herbal medicines including Berberidis Radix,
Epimedii Folium, Notoginseng Radix et Rhizoma, Rhei Rhizoma et Radix,
and Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma were selected to assess
the efficiency of DESs on extraction of alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins,
anthraquinones, and phenolic acids, respectively. Totally 43 types
of choline chloride-, betaine-, and l-proline-based DESs
with different polarity, viscosity, composition, and solubilization
abilities were tailored to test their extraction efficiency, and the
operation conditions were statistically optimized using response surface
methodology to produce the most efficient process. In this work, DES
solvents were first introduced to extract alkaloids and anthraquinones.
The results indicated that most prepared DESs proved to be efficient
solvents for extraction of alkaloids, but lower extractability for
anthraquinones. The extraction capacity of DES may be correlated with
their physical–chemical properties, including H-bonding interactions,
polarity, viscosity, and pH. This study demonstrated that DESs were
suitable green extraction solvents for selectively and efficiently
extracting bioactive compounds from biomaterials.
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