Effect of factors on phytochemical compound extraction from Asystasia gangetica through factorial analysis

Abstract

This study aims to identify the phytochemical compounds of Asystasia gangetica and to investigate the best extraction conditions to maximize phytochemical concentration. The factors affecting the concentration of total phenolic compound (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC) and antioxidant activity (AA) of Asystasia gangetica were evaluated through the two-level factorial analysis including types of solvent (methanol and ethanol), solvent percentage (70 and 85%), extraction times (2 and 5 hours), temperature (50 and 80℃) and agitation (absent or present) to determine the most significant factor. The results show that solvent percentage contributed most to the TPC and agitation in TFC extraction. Meanwhile, the temperature, agitation and solvent percentage were significant for AA. The overall best conditions for phytochemical extraction were found at 5-hour extraction times, 70% methanol, 80℃ temperatures with agitation. At this condition, the highest recorded TPC, TFC and AA were 0.2149, 0.3281 and 6.6360 respectively. Acknowledging the suitable range of processing factors during phytochemical extraction could significantly affect the yields. The factorial analysis could be useful to tailor the range of factors chosen to obtain the desired outcome.