Enhanced Ultrasonically Assisted Extraction of Bitter Melon (Momordica charantia) Leaf Phenolic Compounds Using Choline Chloride-Acetic Acid-Based Natural Deep Eutectic Solvent: An Optimization Approach and In Vitro Digestion

Abstract

Bitter melon (Momordica charantia) is a rich source of phytochemicals including phenolic compounds with diverse health-promoting benefits and potential food industry application due to their antioxidant potential. Bitter melon leaves have been limitedly investigated in comparison to bitter melon fruits. The current work explores the use of green extraction methodology to optimize enhanced extraction of phenolic compounds from bitter melon leaves using ultrasonically assisted extraction and choline chloride-acetic acid (CHAC)-based natural deep eutectic solvent. Extraction using CHAC significantly improved the extraction of total phenolic compounds, total flavonoids, and individual phenolic compounds (including gallic acid, chlorogenic acid, vanillic acid, epicatechin, and quercetin-3-glucoside) in comparison to water, ethanol, and methanol. The effect of molar ratio, water content, temperature, and time on the extraction efficiency of bitter melon leaf phenolic compounds by CHAC was explored and optimized with surface response methodology (central composite design). The optimum condition for the extraction of individual phenolic compounds is a molar ratio of 1:4.35 CHAC with 20.68% water content at 75 degrees C for 21.23 min. Evaluation of the bioaccessibility of individual phenolic compounds concluded that the most bioaccessible compound was vanillic acid (105.00 +/- 2.52%) followed by salicylic acid, chlorogenic acid, syringic acid, gallic acid, epicatechin, and quercetin-3-glucoside.