A Prompt, Tough and Eco-Friendly (PTOCO) System for Mini-Scale Extraction of Samples for Antioxidant Capacity Assays

The compound extraction is an important step before analyzing composition of samples with antioxidant capacity. Several extraction conditions can be employed (temperature, polarity of solvent and extraction time, for example), and the chosen variables exert great influence upon final results. Thus, in order to execute an efficient extraction, it is needed to manage them with rigor. In this work, a new device was designed and tested. The Prompt, TOugh and eCO-friendly (PTOCO) system is the first equipment in mini-scale that allows a good control of antioxidants extraction conditions. It is a simple and cheap device that only needs small amounts of sample and solvent to obtain sufficient volumes of extract for application in routine analytical methods. Twenty experiments from an experimental design were executed using only 0.5 g of oregano and 60 mL of water. The total antioxidant capacity assays, as well as the mass spectra, confirmed the extraction efficiency.

化合物提取是对具备抗氧化能力的样品开展成分分析前的关键步骤。可选用的提取条件多样，例如温度、溶剂极性与提取时长等，所选变量对最终实验结果具有显著影响。因此，为实现高效提取，需对这些变量进行严格管控。本研究设计并测试了一款新型装置：便捷易用、坚固耐用且环保友好（Prompt, TOugh and eCO-friendly，简称PTOCO）系统，它是首款可对抗氧化剂提取条件实现精准调控的微型化设备。该装置结构简单、成本低廉，仅需少量样品与溶剂，即可获得满足常规分析方法用量需求的提取物体积。本研究通过试验设计开展了20组实验，仅使用0.5 g牛至与60 mL水作为原料。总抗氧化能力测定与质谱分析结果均证实了该装置的提取效率。