Extraction of chlorophylls from Daucus carota L. and Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme crop by-products

The growing consumers’ concern for possible long-term adverse effects of artificial molecules commonly used in food industry has led to an increased interest in natural products. At the same time, there is a demand for a more eco-sustainable use of natural matrices, which justifies the search for byproducts to be explored in the development of novel food products. In this context, the present study was designed to exploit chlorophyll pigments from the aerial parts of carrot and tomato. Maceration and ultrasound-assisted techniques were applied for chlorophyll's extraction and green solvents were prioritized. A new chromatographic method was implemented to monitor the results, using an HPLC-DAD/ESI-MS system. Generally, tomato aerial parts revealed higher chlorophylls concentration (211.6±0.3 µg/g) than carrot aerial parts (110.4±0.4 µg/g). Ultrasound technique was more effective than maceration. Compared to hexane, ethanol allowed 100-fold higher extraction yields in tomato and carrot samples. These by-products presented considerable concentrations of chlorophylls, being valuable sources for these pigments’ recovery.