Ultrasound-assisted extraction and preliminary purification of proanthocyanidins and chlorogenic acid from almond (Prunus dulcis) skin.

An aqueous solution of polyethylene glycol (PEG) as a green solvent was employed for the first time to develop the ultrasound-assisted extraction of proanthocyanidins (PA) and chlorogenic acid (CA) from almond skin. The optimized extraction parameters were determined based on response surface methodology, and corresponded to an ultrasound power of 120 W, a liquid-to-solid ratio of 20:1 (mL/g), and a PEG concentration of 50% (v/v). Under these optimized conditions, the extraction yields of PAs and CA from almond skin were 32.68 ± 0.22 and 16.01 ± 0.19 mg/g, respectively. Compared with organic solvent extraction, PEG solution extraction produced higher yields. Different macroporous resins were compared for their performance in purifying PAs and CA from almond skin extract. Static adsorption/desorption experimental results demonstrated that AB-8 resin exhibits excellent purification performance at pH 4. Under the optimized dynamic adsorption/desorption conditions on the AB-8 column, the total recovery of purification for PAs and CA was 80.67%. The total content of PAs and CA in the preliminarily purified extract was 89.17% (with respective contents of 60.90 and 28.27%).