Selective separation of mono glyceryl ferulate using water from an ionic liquid solution of enzymatic transesterification

Article abstract of DOI:10.1007/s11746-014-2491-5

Mono glyceryl ferulate (MFG), an all-natural derivative of ferulic acid, can be used as antioxidant and a UV filter in food and cosmetic formulations. However, the applications of MFG in these fields are limited due to its low availability in nature. In this work, a novel method for selective separation of MFG from a room temperature ionic liquid (RTIL) solution of enzymatic transesterification of ethyl ferulate with glycerol was investigated. The effects of different extractants and extraction conditions on the selective separation of MFG were also studied. High extraction yields of MFG (98.23 ± 1.09 %) and the relative content of MFG in the extracts (97.76 ± 1.25 %) were achieved using neutral deionized water as extractant under the following conditions: 0.5:1 volume ratio of water to RTIL solution, extraction time of 6 min, centrifugation time of 6 min, and extraction done eight times. The extraction thermodynamics showed that the extraction of MFG was an exothermic process. The purified MFG exhibited good UV adsorbing properties at 280-360 nm with a λ _max at 322 nm.