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Antioxidant activities of onion (Allium cepa L.) peel extracts produced by ethanol, hot water, and subcritical water extraction

Food Science and Biotechnology volume 23, pages 615–621 (2014)Cite this article

Abstract

Onion (Allium cepa L.) peels were extracted by ethanol, hot water and subcritical water (SW) extraction and their antioxidant activities were evaluated. Extraction yields of SW extraction were 4-fold higher than ethanol extraction. However, the ethanol extraction increased the total phenolics contents (327.5 mg GAE/g extract) and flavonoids contents (183.95 mg QE/g extract) in the onion peel extract. The onion peel extracts by ethanol extraction showed greater DPPH radical scavenging activities and greater antioxidant activities determined by ferric thiocyanate assay than those by hot water extraction and SW extraction at 165°C. Antioxidant activity of onion peel extract by SW extraction at 110°C was similar to that of ethanol extraction. HPLC profiles revealed that SW extraction at lower temperature (110°C) increased the concentration of quercetin. These results demonstrated that the onion peel extracts produced by SW extraction technique have great potential as a source for useful antioxidant.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Food Science and Biotechnology of Animal Resources, Konkuk University, Seoul, 143-701, Korea

    Kyoung Ah Lee & Hyun-Dong Pai

  2. Bio/Molecular Informatics Center, Konkuk University, Seoul, 143-701, Korea

    Kee-Tae Kim & Hyun-Dong Pai

  3. Department of Food Bioengineering, Jeju National University, Jeju, 690-756, Korea

    Hyun Jung Kim

  4. Department of Food Science and Engineering, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, 120-750, Korea

    Myong-Soo Chung

  5. Department of Food and Animal Biotechnology, Seoul National University, Seoul, 151-742, Korea

    Pahn-Shick Chang

  6. Department of Food Science, Sun Moon University, Chungnam, 336-708, Korea

    Hoon Park

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  1. Kyoung Ah Lee
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Correspondence to Hyun-Dong Pai.

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Lee, K.A., Kim, KT., Kim, H.J. et al. Antioxidant activities of onion (Allium cepa L.) peel extracts produced by ethanol, hot water, and subcritical water extraction. Food Sci Biotechnol 23, 615–621 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10068-014-0084-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10068-014-0084-6

Keywords

  • onion peel
  • antioxidant activity
  • subcritical water extraction
  • flavonoid
  • quercetin