Polarity-dependent extraction of flavonoids from citrus peel waste using a tailor-made deep eutectic solvent

Abstract Choline chloride-based deep eutectic solvents (DESs) were used as green alternatives to conventional organic solvents for extracting valuable flavonoids from citrus peel waste. The effects of viscosity, pH, and polarity of DESs on the extraction efficiency were investigated. Results revealed linear dependence of extraction yield of citrus flavonoids on the polarity of the hydrogen bond donor (HBD). To simultaneously and effectively extract polymethoxylated flavonoids (PMFs) and glycosides of flavonoids (GoFs) with different polarities, five ternary DESs were designed and prepared by combining the effective HBD components. Among the tailor-made DESs studied, choline chloride–levulinic acid–N-methyl urea showed the highest extraction yield of total flavonoids. Under optimized extraction conditions, 18.75 mg/g PMFs and 47.07 mg/g GoFs were extracted from citrus peel with recoveries of 95.87% and 86.32%, respectively. This study presents a useful strategy based on tailor-made DESs to selectively extracted value-added flavonoids from waste peels in the citrus-processing industry.