Eco-Extraction des huiles essentielles et des arômes alimentaires en vue d'une application comme agents antioxydants et antimicrobiens

摘要

Plant essential oils and aromas are a real potential for the industry to substitute the synthetic compounds that might have harmful effects on the human health and the environment. In order to contribute to the green chemistry principles, this study focuses on the “eco-extraction” and valorization of natural plant extracts and the development of a new «green» technology for the extraction of aromatic compounds. The first part of this manuscript highlights the biological properties of the essential oils and aromas and the importance of their applications in various sectors especially in the food industry. In the second part, studies on the biological properties of the essential oils from plants of the Alliaceae family show their good antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. These encouraging results have allowed in the third part to evaluate the onion by-products resulting from the turbo hydrodistillation, which are normally considered as waste. The technique offers a good extraction of flavonoids and phenols using water as natural solvent. The fourth and final part of this work deals with the optimization and the development of a «green» technology using ultrasound and sunflower oil as a natural solvent for the extraction of aromatic compounds from thyme. This new ecological approach allows the extraction of absolutes free from waxes and petroleum solvent residues, having the highest content in thymol and exerting the strongest antioxidant activity.