Ph.D. Dissertation:

Extraction of leaf extract of Terminalia catappa using modern methods (pulsed electric fields); Identification of phenolic compounds; Evaluation of kinetics of antioxidant activity of the extract and its application in the formulation of a new supplemented beverage

Abstract An extract is a liquid found naturally in the cells of fruits and vegetables. The main objective of the present study was to determine the best method for extracting the extracts of three different leaf samples (green, yellow and fallen red leaves) of the tropical almond (Terminalia catappa). The samples were collected from the tropical almond of Chabahar in order to investigate the effect of extraction method on the chemical properties of the extract. For this purpose, extracts of the selected leaves were extracted under different conditions by the two methods of soaking and pulsed electric fields (PEF). Factors that were considered in this study included the phenolic compounds and antioxidant properties of the obtained extracts, as well as the extraction efficacy. This study was conducted in a completely randomized block design. Data were collected and recorded in Excel software and analyzed by one-way ANOVA using SPSS software. Duncan's test was used to identify significant differences between the samples at a 95% confidence level. The results demonstrated that the highest amount of phenolic compounds and greatest antioxidant capacity were related to the extract from the red leaves, while the green leaf extract had the lowest amount of phenolic compounds and radical scavenging ability. The evaluation of the two extraction methods revealed that the extract of the tropical almond’s red leaf obtained via PEF with a field strength of 0.75 kV / cm had the highest total phenolic content (in terms of gallic acid) and greatest antioxidant activity (DPPH radical inhibition ability). Keywords: tropical almond plant, soaking extraction method, pulsed electric field, PEF, phenolic compounds, antioxidant properties.

Keywords: antioxidant, tropical almond plant, soaking extraction method, pulsed electric field, PEF, phenolic