Development of Green and Efficient Extraction Methods of Quercetin from Red Onion Scales Wastes Using Factorial Design for Method Optimization: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Waste resulting from edible plants is considered one of the best sources of valuable phytochemicals. A promising approach for using these appreciated wastes is extracting precious medically important constituents, for example, free quercetin. Two new cost-effective and green extraction methods are introduced in the present study: ultrasound-assisted glycerol extraction (UAGE) and microwave-assisted extraction (MAE). These extraction protocols are optimized using factorial design to define the highest yield of extraction, and HPLC-UV at 370 nm was used as a method of yield analysis. Quercetin remained stable during the whole process in both extraction protocols. A standard addition technique was performed to quantify quercetin in different extracts and eliminate the matrix effect. In UAGE and MAE, extraction yields were 16.55 ± 0.81 and 27.20 ± 1.55 mg/1g from red onion scales on a dry base, respectively. The amount of quercetin extracted using MAE was superior to UAGE in terms of time and yield. A greenness assessment of the offered studies compared to previously published relevant extraction methods was performed using the analytical eco-scale assessment method (ESA) and national environmental methods index (NEMI). MAE showed to be a greener method with a higher ESA score and a greener NEMI pictogram.

A validated LC–MS/MS method for analysis of Cabergoline in human plasma with its implementation in a bioequivalent study: investigation of method greenness

“…Test tablets are considered bioequivalent to Dostinex tablets and could be approved as a good substitute for the generic product. Estimation for the greenness of the proposed LC/MS/MS method AGREE approach is simple and reliable for the assessment of eco-friendly characters of the analytical method [19,21,[36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43]. The final greenness numerical value was 0.63 with a relatively pale green color inside the pictogram as demonstrated in Additional file 1: Fig.…”

“…AGREE approach is simple and reliable for the assessment of eco-friendly characters of the analytical method [ 19 , 21 , 36 – 43 ]. The final greenness numerical value was 0.63 with a relatively pale green color inside the pictogram as demonstrated in Additional file 1 : Fig.…”

The use of tailor‐made acidic deep eutectic solvents for preparation of quercetin‐enriched extracts from onion solid wastes

“…This level is particularly high, considering that other studies have reported yields in quercetin usually varying from 5.32 (Imeneo et al., 2022) to 17.32 mg g −1 DM (Kim et al., 2019). On the other hand, a quercetin yield as high as almost 27 mg g −1 DM has been attained using a methodology based on microwave‐assisted extraction and hydroethanolic solvent (Abd‐Elsalam et al., 2021). However, in none of these studies it was mentioned quercetin liberation from its glycoconjugates.…”

A new green approach for the reduction of consumed solvents and simultaneous quality control analysis of several pharmaceuticals using a fast and economic RP-HPLC method; a case study for a mixture of piracetam, ketoprofen and omeprazole drugs

“…High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is one of the most frequently used techniques for the determination of drugs, [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] natural products, [9][10][11][12][13] foods, [14][15][16][17][18] and important environmental markers. [19][20][21][22][23][24] Quality control analysis is a vital step to ensure correct dosage during production, but the routine analysis for each pharmaceutical formulation alone results in a large amount of hazardous chemical waste.…”