solvent effects in electrocoagulation of selected plant pigments and tannin溶剂效应的电凝法选择的植物色素和单宁.pdfVIP

Molecules 2006, 11, 309-317 molecules ISSN 1420-3049 Full Paper Solvent Effects in Electrocoagulation of Selected Plant Pigments and Tannin Neeranuch Chairungsi 1, Kanlaya Jumpatong 1, Weerachai Phutdhawong 2,* and Duang Buddhasukh 1,* 1 Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Chiangmai University, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand 2 Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Maejo University, Chiang Mai, 50292, Thailand * Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed; emails: weerachai@mju.ac.th; duang@chiangmai.ac.th Received: 9 April 2006; in revised form: 27 April 2006 / Accepted: 29 April 2006 / Published: 29 April 2006 Abstract: Electrocoagulation of a plant extract and certain substances representative of selected classes of plant pigments, viz. chlorophyll, a carotenoid, a phenolic substance and a tannin, was performed in ethanol containing varying amounts of water (15-75%). The results showed that the extent and efficiency of coagulation of these substances tends to vary in a manner directly related to the water content of the solvent, although the tannin and the phenolic substance were less sensitive to the solvent composition and are equally well coagulated in all solvent systems studied. The findings can be applied to the removal of these substances from aqueous alcoholic plant extracts using the electrocoagulation technique. Keywords: Electrocoagulation, electrolytic decolourisation, plant pigments, phenolic compounds, tannins Introduction Electrocoagulation has