Identification and optimization of anthocyanin extracted from Dacryodes rostrata peel

Dacryodes rostrata belongs to the family Burseraceae which possess promising antioxidant, anti-carcinogenic and anti-plasmodial properties due to the presence of active phytochemicals such as flavonoids, phenolics and anthocyanins. This research mainly focused on the optimization extraction conditions of Dacryodes rostrata peel to maximize the yield of specific anthocyanin extracted, total anthocyanin content (TAC) and antioxidant capacity. The extraction conditions (pH, temperature, time, ethanol concentration and liquid to solid ratio) were optimized using Box-Behnken Design. A two-level half factorial screening experiment design was conducted to identify the significant contribution of the studied factors towards the targeted response of DPPH radical scavenging activity and total anthocyanin content. Among five of the investigated factors, liquid to solid ratio and extraction temperature were found to be very significant (p<0.0001), in targeting high yield of total anthocyanin content. Besides, there were nine compounds analyzed using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry that is believed to belong in the anthocyanin group of compounds. Further validation of the nine analyzed compounds are required to be performed to validate the identification of the compounds.