Enzyme-assisted extraction of plant material - New functional aspects of the process on an example of Medicago sativa L.

Enzyme-assisted extraction of plant material is widely used method for isolation of biologically active compounds. Changes in the structure of the plant material occuring during enzymatic hydrolysis and their consequences for the extraction process of biological active compounds as well functional aspects of the quality of the obtained extracts are usually not considered. Therefore, the aim of the study was to correlate the efficiency of enzymatic hydrolysis of plant material prepared for extraction with quality of obtained extracts. Optical and transmission electron microscopy analysis showed that enzymes efficiently penetrate inside the plant fragments of tissue. MALDI-TOF-MS spectra of released compounds showed that pectinase is especially efficient in obtaining high quality extract with a low content of interfering compounds. This extract was characterized by a particularly high content of phenolic acids, flavonoids and medicagenic acid at the same time, thanks to which it has a high utility value. FTIR analysis of plant fragments allowed to assign characteristic bands for the material undergoing hydrolysis, therefore it can be successfully used in the future to quickly and inexpensively control the progress of the enzymatic reaction.

Automated summary

Enzyme-assisted extraction of plant material is a widely used method that allows for the isolation of biologically active compounds. This study aimed to examine the relationship between the efficiency of enzymatic hydrolysis of plant material and the quality of the obtained extracts. The results showed that pectinase was particularly effective in obtaining high-quality extracts with low levels of interfering compounds, resulting in extracts with high utility value.