An improved method for the isolation of amarogentin, the bitter principle of yellow gentian roots. (1st December 2021) - Fiorito, Serena
Highlights: Sorbents used for the adsorption of amarogentin from Gentiana lutea root extract. Mg-based materials adsorbed amarogentin in virtual quantitative yield. Percentages of adsorbed phytochemicals were evaluated by HPLC analysis. An amarogentin-based blend as a novel food addictive was obtained. Abstract: Amarogentin is well known to be among the most bitter naturally occurring compound. Either as an individual one or extracts, amarogentin is used as a food additive and as a dietary supplement. The aim of the present investigation is to set-up a convenient process to selectively isolate amarogentin from the ethanolic roots extract of Gentiana lutea . The process consisted in the treatment of an aqueous suspension of such an extract with a panel of 21 solid inorganic / organic sorbents followed by filtration, desorption, and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analyses. Among the solid materials tested, those containing Mg +2 in the frame of a lamellar structure provided very good adsorption yields in the range 86.4% − 99.9% (p < 0.05 at Student's t -test). The method we set up could be in principle useful to obtain a pure nature-derived food additive to provide bitter taste to foods and beverages.