A COMPARISON BETWEEN DIFFERENT METHODS FOR EXTRACTION OF GLYCYRRHETINIC ACID FROM LIQUORICE STOLONS

Abstract

The dried roots, rhizomes and stolons of the plant Glycyrrhiza glabra L., belongs to family Leguminosae. It is commonly known as liquorice. It has been used as medicine since ancient times. Recently, it is also widely used in both food and pharmaceutical industries.A triterpenoid saponin glycoside, glycyrrhizin (2-20%) is the major constituent of plant, which yield one molecule of glycyrrhetinic acid (aglycon) and two molecules of glucuronic acid (glycon) on hydrolysis in acidic medium due to the breakage of ester linkage between glycon and aglycon. Glycyrrhizin is fifty times sweeter than sucrose. The techniques used for the production of glycyrrhetinic acid include production from salt of glycyrrhizin, by enzymatic reaction and by hydrolysis of liquorice roots/stolons.The present investigation deals with comparison between various extractions techniques of glycyrrhetinic acid from the stolons of liquorice. Three different extraction methods namely maceration, solvent treatment and Soxhlet extraction method were compared to determine percent yield of glycyrrhetinic acid as ammonium salt. The maximum extraction of glycyrrhetinic acid was found by solvent treatment method, which utilized change of pH of extraction solvent. It was concluded from the result that the extraction ratio of glycyrrhetinic acid can be increased by changing in pH of extraction solvent. Isolated component obtained from above three methods were investigated further for physical characterization, organoleptic properties, melting point, loss on drying, pH, UV, IR.