A MODIFIED AND RAPID METHOD OF EXTRACTION OF (-) HYDROXYCITRIC ACID FROM THE FRUIT RINDS OF GARCINIA CAMBOGIA

摘要

This invention relates to a process of rapidly extracting a large amount of (-) Hydroxycitric acid from the fruit-rinds of Garcinia cambogia by a modified method that eliminates several major expensive and time-consuming steps from the already established Original Method. Essentially the steps that were eliminated were as follows: a) Neutralization of the crude extract with 2N NaOH that led to the formation of a salt in the form of an amber coloured viscous lactone. b) Purifying this lactone by washing thrice with 70% ultra-pure HPLC grade ethanol. c) Drying of the purified lactone overnight at 60° C d) Re-suspension of this purified lactone in 10 ml of sterile distilled water and e) Subsequent passage of the above lactone through an activated Dowex Cation Column in order to collect the regenerated (-) Hydroxycitric acid. The (-) Hydroxycitric acid which is sensitive enough for detection by HPLC and Mass spectroscopy, could thus be obtained even without using a Cation Exchange Resin Dowex column. In contrast, the amount of this compound thus extracted was found to be much more than that obtained after passing through the Dowex Column. This innovative method thus saved considerable amount of time, cost and effort toward the extraction of (-) Hydroxycitric acid from the fruit-rinds of Garcinia cambogia.