Impact of Organic Solvents in the Extraction Efficiency of Therapeutic Analogue Capsaicin from Capsicum chinense Bhut Jolokia Fruits

Abstract

The aim of this study was to find out the efficient extraction of pharmacologically important analogue capsaicinoids in different organic solvents of Capsicum chinense Bhut Jolokia fruits. Non polar solvents (Hexane, Benzene, Chloroform and Diethyl ether), Polar Aprotic solvents (Ethyl acetate, Acetone, Acetonitrile and Dimethyl sulfoxide -DMSO) and Polar Protic solvents (n-Propanol, Ethanol, Methanol and Water) were used for the extraction. The crude extracts were subjected to TLC for the qualitative examination for the presence of capsaicinoids. The simple linear regression curve was plotted for standard capsaicin purchased from Sigma Chemical. For the quantitative estimation UV- visible spectrophotometer analysis and phosphomolybdic reduction method of total capsaicin were performed. The total phenol content in the extracts was estimated by Folin- Ciocalteu acid reagent method. The TLC profile with retention factor 0.078 corresponding to standard capsaicin was observed in all extracts except DMSO. Among the 12 tested solvents, acetone and acetonitrile showed high pungency level with 1,347,439 SHU and 1,266,250 SHU respectively, followed by ethanol with pungency level of 1,246,523 SHU. The non polar solvent (hexane, benzene, chloroform) and polar protic solvents (methanol and water) showed the value less than 1,000,000 SHU. In the comparative study on the UV, total phenol and total capsaicin estimation reveals that acetone and acetonitrile solvents were efficient to extract the high amount capsaicinoids. Our results with the solvents used for the extraction showed diverse solubility of capsaicinoid. Hence this study concludes that polar aprotic solvents acetonitrile and acetone were the best solvent system for the efficient extraction of capsaicinoids for pharmacological and biological application.