1. Introduction
Regardless of origin or type, there are numerous functional and structurally active molecules, called bioactive compounds or biomolecules. These bioactive compounds have been extracted from various sources, in different quantities, and with variable uses in research (Bilal M. and Iqbal H. M.; 2020).
González-Peña M. A. et al., 2023, defined bioactive compounds as natural food ingredients derived from plant sources that do not have nutritional value, but which, upon ingestion, will manifest positive or toxic effects on the individual’s health. Biomolecules can be derived from natural sources such as plant material, microorganisms, marine organisms, and animals (Jha Avinash Kumar and Nandan Sit, 2022).
They are found in small quantities in nature, in conjugated form, which is a disadvantage for extraction methods because they will be laborious and will require purification steps (Marathe S. J. et al., 2019).
Positive manifestations of biomolecules include modulation of gene expression, induction or inhibition of enzymatic activity, antioxidant activity (Marathe S. J. et al., 2019), immunomodulatory activity, anti-inflammatory (Cerón-García M. C. et al., 2018), anticancer, antidiabetic and also improve digestion and blood circulation (Jha Avinash Kumar and Nandan Sit, 2022). Due to these properties, bioactive compounds are used in the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, and food industries (Marathe S. J. et al., 2019).
Plants have a biological system made up of primary and secondary metabolites. Primary metabolites are represented by amino acids, proteins, and carbohydrates that have as their main activity the development and maturation of plant tissues. Secondary metabolites are synthesized during the development phase and participate in the adaptation and survival of plants (Jha Avinash Kumar and Nandan Sit, 2022).
According to Ivanović M. et al., 2020, some of the important classes of secondary metabolites are: alkaloids, terpenoids, compounds containing nitrogen, sulfur or phenolic compounds. These classes are also divided into subclasses (Ivanović M. et al., 2020). Carotenoids, with their representative carotene, carotenoid, lutein, β-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin, compounds recognized for their antioxidant activity, are part of the terpenoid class (Jha Avinash Kumar and Nandan Sit, 2022).
Fruits and vegetables are a rich source of bioactive compounds with beneficial functions for the human body, such as carotenoids or phenols, but nevertheless a large quantity can be obtained from plant extracts resulting from food processing or from agricultural waste (Hulkko L. S. et al., 2022). The pulp, peels, leaves, and stems are considered by-products (secondary products or by-products) formed during cultivation or after processing vegetables and fruits in agriculture or in the food industry (Ebrahimi, P. et al., 2023).
A high level of food pigments is contained in these by-products, especially chlorophylls, which are found in almost every green component of the crop, and for this reason, they can be a main source for the recovery of biomolecules, thus addressing the strategy of the circular economy (Ebrahimi, P. et al., 2023). Natural pigments are points of interest for industrial, nutritional, and pharmacological applications because they have various benefits on the health of the body, for example, chlorophyll is involved in the process of recovering damaged tissues, and carotenoids act as precursors in the synthesis of vitamin A (Fatima I. et al., 2023).
Carotenoids are also part of the category of natural pigments. Carotenes and xanthophylls belong to the class of carotenoid pigments and are involved in maintaining the stability of the cell wall structure and in the photoprotection of the plant, having the ability to absorb solar radiation (Fatima I. et al., 2023). According to González-Peña M. A. et al., 2023, recently the interest of researchers for plant pigments has increased due to numerous implications in biological processes. There are studies that prove the importance of these pigments in preventing macular degeneration, chronic degenerative diseases, and the formation of cataracts. Also, carotenoids are also involved in hematopoiesis, cell communication, embryonic development, apoptosis, and have antiproliferative and anti-angiogenic properties (González-Peña M. A. et al., 2023).
2. Lipophilic Bioactive Compounds
2.1. Carotenoids
A healthy diet involves the optimal intake of various necessary vitamins and minerals, and one of the important nutritional components is carotenoids (Cheng S. H. et al., 2020). They are natural colorants with antioxidant and nutritional properties that determine the red, yellow, and orange colors of higher plants (Molina A. K. et al., 2023), green and brown of algae (Fatima I. et al., 2023).
Carotenoids are found in bulbs, seeds, stems (Butnariu M.; 2016), leaves, flowers (Molina A. K. et al., 2023), fruits, and vegetables such as: green leaves, reds, carrots, saffron, papaya, pineapple, sunflower, marigold flower (González-Peña M. A. et al., 2023), red pepper, citrus, peaches, apricots, and mango (Meléndez-Martínez A. J. et al., 2022). These compounds can be synthesized by photosynthetic organisms (Saini R. K. and Keum Y. S.; 2018) including photosynthetic bacteria, algae, plants (Molina A. K. et al., 2023), fungi, and some non-photosynthetic bacteria (Saini R. K. and Keum Y. S.; 2018).
Animals, except for some species of aphids, cannot synthesize carotenoids, in this way being necessary their intake through food (Saini R. K. and Keum Y. S.; 2018). Plants, although they are an important source of pigments, can have a limited production due to geographical factors, seasonal dependence, or variations in colors or shades. Because of these things, microorganisms have been considered a better choice because they can present a higher yield of extraction, cultures represent easily regenerable sources, easily degradable and also, they present antimicrobial properties (Afroz Toma M. et al., 2023).
The pigments resulting from the cultures of microorganisms have attracted the attention of researchers because they can synthesize bioactive compounds under flexible working conditions such as intense light, high temperature, acidic or basic pH, and their greater solubility in aqueous media compared to pigments obtained from plants, and their collection can be continuous and consistent (Afroz Toma M. et al., 2023).
Sources for obtaining microbial pigments can be bacteria, fungi, parasites, microalgae, and basidiomycetes with applicability in fields such as pharmaceutical and food. However, fungi are favorable sources due to the rapid growth and development cell cycle which can also be genetically modified so that the synthesis of pigments is increased (Afroz Toma M. et al., 2023).
Monascus, Cordyceps, Serratia, Penicillium, Aspergillus, Fusarium, Talaromyces are fungi used for large-scale production of carotenoids, lycopene, riboflavin, melanins, quinones, and betalains (Afroz Toma M. et al., 2023). Species of microalgae such as Dunaliella salina, Porphyridium cruentum, Isochrysis galbana, and Haematococcus pluvialis are intensively used due to their increased synthesis capacity of different types of carotenoids (β-carotene, lycopene, lutein) with biotechnological, industrial, and biorefinery applications (Achour H. Y. et al., 2023).
More than 700 carotenoids have been discovered, of which 40 are included in the diet (González-Peña M. A. et al., 2023). They are composed of eight isoprene units that determine the formation of a chain of 40 carbon atoms, thus they are part of the terpene family (Molina A. K. et al., 2023) and are united through a system of conjugated double bonds (Sousa Clara, 2022).
There are two classes in which these pigments are classified: carotenes comprising hydrocarbon forms without oxygen atoms and xanthophylls which present in their structure at least one oxygen atom forming hydroxy or epoxy groups (Bampidis V. et al., 2019). The most well-known carotenes are β-carotene, α-carotene, lycopene, and torulene (Afroz Toma M. et al., 2023).
α-carotene, β-carotene, γ-carotene, and β-cryptoxanthin are essential for the development and maintenance of healthy vision because they exhibit provitamin A activity, being converted into vitamin A in the body (González-Peña M. A. et al., 2023).
α-carotene, β-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, lutein, and zeaxanthin, through their increased antioxidant properties, promote the elimination of reactive oxygen species and free radicals, which contributes to protection against chronic diseases (González-Peña M. A. et al., 2023).
However, their use in the food industry is limited because they are unstable structures predisposed to oxidation in the presence of heat, light, acids, oxidants, and metal ions, they have low solubility in water, availability, and rapid release (González-Peña M. A. et al., 2023).
Table 1.
Different extraction methods for carotenoids.
Table 1.
Different extraction methods for carotenoids.
Plant Source |
Extraction Method |
Solvent |
Operating Conditions |
Extraction Yield |
Source |
Solanum lycopersicum (By-product) |
Soxhlet |
Ethanol |
Time of 5h |
0.034 mg/g β-carotene 0.703 mg/g lycopene |
(Molina A. K. et al., 2023) |
Cucumis melo L. |
Ultrasound-assisted extraction |
Hexane:acetone 80:20 |
10 minutes, 100% amplitude |
124.61 ± 3.82 μg/g |
(Molina A. K. et al., 2023) |
Passiflora edulis f. flavicarpa |
Immersion |
Thermostatic bath Ethanol 90% acidified with 0.03% citric acid Ethanol 90% acidified with 0.03% citric acid |
T=29℃, time of 2h, without light, 500 rpm T= 60℃, time of 24h |
113.08 ± 8.84 μg β-carotene/100 g 10.34 ± 5.18 μg of β-carotene/100 g |
(Molina A. K. et al., 2023) |
Cyphomandra betacea |
Conventional solvent extraction |
n-hexane/petroleum ether 50:50% |
Absence of light, time of 48h |
0.051g caroten/g |
(Molina A. K. et al., 2023) |
Pouteria campechiana Kunth |
Agitation extraction |
n-hexane /dichloromethane 1:1 with a ratio between solvent and sample 15:1 n-hexane /dichloromethane 1:1 with a ratio between solvent and sample 30:1 |
T=40℃, 30 minutes, 200 rpm, followed by 10 minutes at 6000 rpm T=40℃, 30 minutes, 200 rpm, followed by 10 minutes at 6000 rpm |
5.17 ± 0.08 g β-carotene/100g dry matter 3.12 ± 0.01 g β-carotene/100g dry matter |
(Molina A. K. et al., 2023) |
Daucus carota |
Supercritical CO2 |
Ethanol 15.5% |
T=59℃, at a pressure of 349 bar |
Extraction yield equal to 86.1% |
(Molina A. K. et al., 2023) |
2.2. Xanthophylls
According to Petibon F. and Wiesenberg G. L.; 2022, xanthophylls are synthesized by adding oxygen to derivatives of tetraterpenes. They are found in the largest quantity in chromoplasts, which through the esterification reaction with fatty acids favor the accumulation of xanthophylls (López-Cruz, R. et al., 2023).
From the perspective of the function they perform, xanthophylls are divided into primary or secondary xanthophylls. The main ones have structural and functional properties at the level of the photosynthetic apparatus of algae, participating in the survival of the organism, and the secondary ones are synthesized in large quantities following exposures to specific environmental stimuli (Zarekarizi A. et al., 2019).
In the structure of xanthophylls, there are different types of functional groups that include at least one oxygen atom such as: hydroxyl (lutein, zeaxanthin, β-cryptoxanthin), carbonyl (astaxanthin, cantaxanthin, capsanthin) and epoxide (neoxanthin, violaxanthin, fucoxanthin) which contribute to the diversity of these structures (Saini R. K. et al., 2022).
Xanthophylls are not soluble in water, having lipid-like properties (Thomas E. and S. Johnson E. J.; 2018). They have a lower predisposition to thermal degradation (Saini R. K. et al., 2022) and are less hydrophilic than carotenes (due to the hydroxyl groups in the chemical structure) (Thomas S. E. and Johnson E. J.; 2018). Due to their oxidative properties, they are susceptible to degradation under conditions where they are exposed to light, high temperatures, acids, and longer extraction time (Ahmad N. et al., 2021).
During the sample preparation phase, the extraction yield can be improved by using physical and chemical factors that help destroy the cell wall or other physical barriers (Ahmad N. et al., 2021). From this point of view, the choice of solvent represents a critical point of the extraction process, and due to the oxygen molecule, it is necessary to use polar solvents such as ethanol, acetone, hexane, ethyl acetate or diethyl ether (Ahmad N. et al., 2021).
Xanthophylls such as lutein or zeaxanthin are found in food sources such as corn, green vegetables (Thomas S. E. and Johnson E. J.; 2018), parsley, spinach and egg yolk (Nabi B. G. et al., 2023), β-cryptoxanthin which is found in papaya, peppers, pumpkin (Thomas S. E. and Johnson E. J.; 2018), astaxanthin and fucoxanthin are found in green and brown algae (Nabi B. G. et al., 2023), such as Haematococcus pluvialis which is a species of green microalgae, some species of fish (wild salmon), shellfish and certain mushrooms (Thomas S. E. and Johnson E. J.; 2018).
Other sources for xanthophylls are Blakeslea trispora (mushrooms), Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous (yeast), yellow flower petals for non-esterified forms, and from red flower petals for both forms (López-Cruz, R. et al., 2023).
Although they are not part of the category of essential nutrients, xanthophylls have a high bioprotective potential (López-Cruz, R. et al., 2023) in maintaining health or the onset of diseases. Due to their antioxidant activity, they can prevent the onset of cardiovascular diseases or cancer, and by capturing free radicals and acting against ROS, especially singlet oxygen, they prevent lipid peroxidation, oxidative damage to important cellular pathways and DNA damage (Thomas S. E. and Johnson E. J.; 2018).
Table 2.
Different extraction methods for bioactive compounds.
Table 2.
Different extraction methods for bioactive compounds.
Pigment |
Algae Species |
Freshwater/Marine Environment |
Extraction Method |
Source |
β-carotene |
Dunaleilla salina |
Marine |
Supercritical CO2 + supercritical extraction with ethane and ethylene |
(Achour H. Y. et al., 2023) |
Lutein |
Monostroma nitidium |
Marine |
Extraction with liquefied dimethyl ether |
(Fatima I. et al., 2023) |
|
Chlorella vulgaris |
Freshwater |
Freeze and thaw extraction |
(Kulkarni and Nikolov 2018) |
|
Scenedesmus almeriensis |
Freshwater |
Supercritical fluid extraction |
(Fatima I. et al., 2023) |
|
Chlorococum humicula |
Freshwater |
Extraction with liquefied dimethyl ether |
(Babadi et al. 2020) |
|
Desmodesmus sp |
Freshwater |
High-pressure extraction |
(Fatima I. et al., 2023) |
|
Scenedesmus sp |
Freshwater |
DES extraction |
(Fan et al. 2022) |
Fucoxanthin |
Undaria pinnatifida |
Marine |
Supercritical fluid extraction, Supercritical CO2 extraction |
(Fatima I. et al., 2023) |
|
Chlorococum humicula |
Freshwater |
Extraction with liquefied dimethyl ether |
(Babadi et al. 2020) |
|
Fucus vesiculosus |
Marine |
DES extraction |
(Obluchinskaya et al. 2021) |
|
Phaeodactylum tricornutum |
Marine |
Ultrasound-assisted extraction |
(Fatima I. et al., 2023) |
|
Cylindrotheca closterium |
Marine |
Microwave-assisted extraction |
(Fatima I. et al., 2023) |
Chlorophyll a |
Chlorococum humicula |
Freshwater |
Extraction with liquefied dimethyl ether |
(Babadi et al. 2020) |
|
Chlorella vulgaris |
Marine |
High-pressure extraction |
(Fatima I. et al., 2023) |
|
Chlorella vulgaris |
Freshwater |
Supercritical CO2 extraction |
(Fatima I. et al., 2023) |
|
Cladophora glomerata, Chlorella rivularis, Ulva flexuosa |
Freshwater |
Supercritical CO2 extraction |
(Fabrowska et al. 2018) |
Chlorophyll b |
Cladophora glomerata, Ulva flexuosa |
Freshwater |
Ultrasound-assisted extraction |
(Fabrowska et al. 2018) |
|
Chlorella vulgaris |
Freshwater |
Supercritical CO2 extraction |
(Fatima I. et al., 2023) |
|
Cladophora glomerata freshwater |
Freshwater |
Microwave-assisted extraction |
(Fabrowska et al. 2018) |
2.3. Chlorophylls
Chlorophylls, along with carotenoids, are the most well-known pigments, found in plant leaves where they perform the functions of photoprotection and photosynthesis. Biotic or abiotic stress, UV-B radiation, heat, CO2, and O3 can cause changes in the composition or structure of chlorophylls or carotenoids, thus highlighting the plant’s ability to acclimate (Petibon F. and Wiesenberg G. L.; 2022).
Chlorophyll (Chl) is the most abundant primary natural pigment in plants, cyanobacteria, and algae (Ferreira et al., 2021). It facilitates the use of sunlight as a source of energy to synthesize glucose molecules and other carbohydrates from water and CO2 (Caesar J. et al., 2018), which will serve as a nutritional source for the entire plant (Ebrahimi, P. et al., 2023). There are five major forms of chlorophyll: a, b, c, d, and e, noting that an f form of chl has also been reported (Singh A. K. et al., 2020).
According to Roca M. and Pérez-Gálvez A.; 2021, there are over 100 structures that form a homogeneous group of chlorophylls. These forms appear as a result of esterification reactions with numerous alcohols, although there are also non-esterified forms. Analyzing the degree of unsaturation of the macrocycle, chlorophylls are classified into: chlorines (chl a and chl b), porphyrins (chl c), or bacteriochlorines (Roca M. and Pérez-Gálvez A.; 2021).
Their composition also varies depending on the organism of origin: vascular plants and green algae have Chl a and b, brown algae Chl c, cyanobacteria Chl a, and Rhodophyta which, in addition to Chl a, also have Chl d (Caesar J. et al., 2018). Chl a and Chl b differ by a substitution of a methyl group with a formyl group (Kwartiningsih E. et al., 2021), and this variation in structure results in a variation in colors, Chl a causing the appearance of a blue-green color, and Chl b blue-yellow (Ebrahimi, P. et al., 2023). In plants, Chl a and Chl b are in an approximate ratio of 3:1 (Kwartiningsih E. et al., 2021).
Nettle, spinach, alfalfa, and corn are industrial sources of chlorophyll (Jorge, A.M. et al., 2024), followed by leafy vegetables, green beans, peas, and leaves of Pandanus amaryllifolius (Nabi B. G. et al., 2023).
The beneficial activity of chlorophylls on the body has made them used in the pharmaceutical, food, cosmetic, and health fields (Ferreira et al., 2021) with properties of rapid wound healing, anti-inflammatory (Ebrahimi, P. et al., 2023), anticancer, and antimutagenic (López-Cruz, R. et al., 2023). In addition, different types of chlorophylls can act against reactive oxygen species (ROS) in response, so they are also involved in defense mechanisms, against stress and apoptosis (Roca M. and Pérez-Gálvez A.; 2021).
Chlorophylls have a lipophilic character (Murador D. et al., 2021) and because of this they are insoluble in polar solvents, thus resulting in them being liposoluble compounds, like carotenoids (Murador D. et al., 2021). They can change their structure depending on temperature, pH (Murador D. et al., 2021), solvent, bleaching, ultrasound time, drying temperature, or carrier thus can determine the degradation of chlorophyll (Nabi B. G. et al., 2023). The central Mg ion of the chlorophyll conformation is lost under acidic conditions and is converted into the corresponding pheophytin (Murador D. et al., 2021). For these reasons, to obtain reliable results, it is necessary to standardize appropriate extraction methods, and the solvents most often described in the literature for chlorophylls are: acetone, ethanol, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) (Caesar J. et al., 2018)., methanol (MeOH) and N,N-dimethylformaldehyde (DMF), DMF being the best solvent but due to its toxic nature it is not used (Jorge, A.M. et al., 2024).
Table 3.
Different extraction methods for chlorophylls.
Table 3.
Different extraction methods for chlorophylls.
Plant Source |
Extraction Method |
Solvent |
Operating Conditions |
Extraction Yield |
Source |
Cynodon spp. |
Maceration |
Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) |
V= 20 mL, 8 evaluations every 12h/12h, T=23-26℃, humidity 40-75% |
Chlorophyll a: 316 ± 2.93 μmol·m−2 Chlorophyll b: 66 ± 1.41 μmol·m−2 |
(Molina A. K. et al., 2023) |
|
|
N,N-dimethylformamide |
V= 20 mL, 8 evaluations every 12h/12h, T=23-26℃, humidity 40-75% |
Chlorophyll a: 297 ± 3.58 μmol·m−2 Chlorophyll b: 85 ± 2.03 μmol·m−2 |
|
|
|
Acetone 80% |
V= 20 mL, 8 evaluations every 12h/12h, T=23-26℃, humidity 40-75% |
Chlorophyll a: 250 ± 2.65 μmol·m−2 Chlorophyll b: 111 ± 1.50 μmol·m−2 |
|
|
|
Absolute ethanol |
V= 20 mL, 8 evaluations every 12h/12h, T=23-26℃, humidity 40-75% |
Chlorophyll a: 259 ± 2.84 μmol·m−2 Chlorophyll b: 84 ± 2.25 μmol·m−2 |
|
Brassica napus L. |
Maceration |
Acetone 80% |
Conventional extraction |
Chlorophyll a: 0.87 mg·g−1 Chlorophyll b: 0.39 mg·g−1 |
(Molina A. K. et al., 2023) |
|
Without maceration |
Acetone 80% |
Cool room, without light, time of 24h |
Chlorophyll a: 0.98 mg·−1 Chlorophyll b: 0.38 mg·g−1 |
|
4. Conclusions
In the food industry, a significant amount of biodegradable organic secondary waste is produced, which can be utilized to reduce biological waste and recover important bioactive compounds. The extraction of carotenoids, chlorophylls, and xanthophylls depends on the type of solvent, the selected method, working conditions (temperature, pH, light), and the solute components.
Choosing the right solvent is critical for achieving satisfactory results because its efficiency determines increased extraction yield, reduced working time, and minimized interference between compounds. Additionally, understanding the material’s morphology from which the extraction will be performed is essential.
When using organic solvents such as DES and NADES, they offer the additional advantage of being non-toxic, thus reducing environmental impact. Enzyme-assisted extraction (EAE) involves analyzing catalytic properties, optimal operating conditions, enzyme synergy, and mode of action. Unconventional methods have proven to be more efficient due to reduced extraction time, even though similar extraction yields were obtained. Furthermore, unconventional methods can be combined to enhance extraction potential.
Given the variability in physicochemical properties of the extraction material, differential characteristics among compounds (even within the same class), and their interaction with the solvent, it is challenging to optimize a universally applicable extraction method.