Comparative Extraction of Components from Ukrainian and Baltic Ambers

Abstract

Abstract The research is devoted to the issue of processing substandard amber to enable the use of the processing products in food, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industries. For the first time, comparison was made of the extractive characteristics of amber from the two largest world deposits – the Baltic and Ukrainian. Nine times more dry substances are transferred to the extract from Ukrainian than from Baltic amber, when extracting amber with ethanol under the same conditions. The antioxidant activity of the obtained extracts was determined by ABTS+ and DPPH methods. The values of these indicators were higher in the extract of Ukrainian amber and also differed in extracts from different fractions. Analysis of the volatile components composition did not indicate a significant difference between the extracts of different amber, but clear differences were seen between the fractions from which the extract was obtained. The main component, representing more than a half of the volatile components, was o–Cymene. Most of the identified components are characterised by camphor odour. Amber from different places of origin have different extraction characteristics, which was confirmed by the research results.