Salting out separation of bioactive compounds from epicarp of ‘Hass’ avocado (Persea americana Mill.) fruit during ripening

Abstract

The industrialization of the 'Hass' avocado fruit generates residues, such as the peel or epicarp, which contains compounds that can be used. The objective of the work was to separate bioactive compounds from epicarp of 'Hass' avocado fruits during ripening through the aqueous two-phase extraction (ATPE) procedure. An ATPE system was used with a mixture of trisodium citrate (Na₃C₃H₅O(COO)₃) and polyethylene glycol 4000 (Peg4000) in concentrations of 24.94 and 14.53 %, respectively, which allowed the recovery of 85.3 % of soluble phenols present in the epicarp of fruits. The extraction of bioactive compounds increased as ripening progressed and the highest amounts of total soluble phenols, flavonoids, anthocyanins, and condensable tannins coincided with the consumption maturity, with values of 1866.5, 717.6, 64.0, and 1635.1 μg mL^‑1, respectively, in the extraction phase. The ATPE method is a strategy that makes it possible to take advantage of the 'Hass' avocado fruit epicarp.