OBTAINING ANTIOXIDANT COMPOUNDS SEED TAMARINDUS INDICA, SWEET VARIETY

The seeds of Tamarindus indica, sweet variety, are discarded without use of technology. The natural antioxidants can be found in in vegetables raw materials, therefore, the objective of this study was to obtain the seed extract and evaluation of their antioxidant activity (AA). The experiment was conducted using the linear outlining 2 2 + 3 repetitions at the center point, having CO2 as solvent, at pressures 100, 175 and 250 bar and temperatures 68, 95 and 122 F. In the condition of 250 bar and 122 F was used CO2 + ethanol at concentrations of 10, 25, 50 and 75%. The AA was assessed by the methods of DPPH and Folin-Ciocaltou. It was observed that by increasing the density, the higher the yield of extraction with pure CO2 due to the greater solvating power of the solvent, obtaining 2,6% 250bar/122 F. The increasing concentration of ethanol, 10 to 75%, contributed to a yield, respectively, from 3,47 to 20,3%, for it increased, the solubility of polar compounds. Increasing pressure and temperature favored the AA with pure CO2 from 28,2 to 53,9% (500μg/mL), but also the increasing ethanol concentration increased from 25,1 to 97,8% (500μg/mL). Phenolic compounds extracted with pure CO2 showed linear variation of 6,13 to 25,1 mgEAG/g extract, on condition of 100bar/68 F and 250bar/122 F, respectively. The ethanol contributed significantly to AA, being found of 25,6 to 420,8 mgEAG/g extract, 10 and 75%, respectively, this can be attributed to its chemical similarity to these compounds. The seed of the tamarind candy is potentially promising as a source of natural antioxidants.