Water at room temperature as a solvent for the extraction of apple pomace phenolic compounds.

A fractionation method was used to extract phenolic compounds from apple pomace (AP) involving a first extraction with water and subsequent extractions of the same residue with two different organic solvents. The water extracts obtained contained high amounts of phenolic compounds with high antioxidant capacity. However, the second and third extractions of the same residue still extracted considerable amounts of remaining phenolic compounds, both with significant antioxidant capacities. Liquid chromatography-electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (LC-ESI/MS) studies showed water to be a good solvent to extract hydroxycinnamic acids, flavonols, flavanols, dihydrochalcones and flavones present in the AP. However, water was not the ideal solvent to extract the quercetin glycosides.