What raw materials are used for extracting sulforaphane?
Studies have shown that the cruciferous Brassica plant, cauliflower, broccoli, and kale have a high sulforaphane content, especially in their seeds. A comparative study has found that the extraction rate of sulforaphane in broccoli seeds is much higher than in other seeds, but due to the high price of seeds, the extraction cost is high and it is difficult to achieve industrialization. Therefore, the raw material used for daily production and extraction is broccoli sprouts, which is a young broccoli plant. Compared with mature broccoli, broccoli sprouts contain more sulforaphane, and in addition, the extraction steps are simple with only two steps of enzymatic digestion and extraction, and the vegetable is more easily accessible and suitable for large-scale input production.
The production process of sulforaphane
1. Enzymatic digestion
Enzymatic digestion is the most cost-effective way to produce sulforaphane. Studies have shown that the optimum pH for the production of sulforaphane is 5.0-8.0 and the enzymatic digestion time is 8-12 h. The extraction conditions can be optimized to improve the extraction rate, and the addition of radish juice to the enzymatic digestion buffer can facilitate the enzymatic digestion reaction, in addition to the addition of some stabilization products such as VC or Zn2, which can greatly improve the yield of sulforaphane.
2. Extraction
① Extraction can be divided into solvent extraction and ultrasound-assisted extraction, but because solvent extraction has restrictions on the extraction agent, the extraction rate of the high toxicity of the extractant is not applicable when the extracted radish sulfur is used as food or medicine, in addition, it will also cause pollution to the environment, and the finished powder will also have the taste of solvent, reducing the sense of good customer experience.
② Therefore, the main method used at present is ultrasound-assisted extraction, compared with the traditional solvent extraction method, ultrasound-assisted extraction has a smaller amount of solvent, and ultrasound-assisted enzymatic digestion instead of standing enzymatic digestion at room temperature saves most of the time. According to the researchers, the best conditions for ultrasound-assisted extraction were 80 percent ethanol as the solvent for ultrasound extraction, which was chosen because it was easy to source and safe to add in production, 30 min for ultrasound extraction, and 2 times for ultrasound extraction.
③ The extraction step is a crucial step in the process of obtaining sulforaphane. Without enzymatic digestion, the content of sulforaphane is almost zero.
3. Refining
After extracting the sulforaphane through the above steps, the extract will be concentrated and dried to obtain the crude sulforaphane, then after crushing and sieving, and testing the packaging, the finished Sulforaphane Powder can be obtained.
Other methods of extracting sulforaphane
1. Chemical synthesis method
The chemical reaction conditions are difficult to control, the steps are tedious and the cost is high, so it is rarely used in practice. According to relevant information, the chemical synthesis method of sulforaphane is commonly used to synthesize S-methyltetrahydrothiopheneium tetrafluoroborate with tetrahydrothiophene, methyl iodide, and sodium tetrafluoroborate as raw materials, and then react with sodium azide to form 1-azido-(4-methylsulfonyl)butane, and get isothiocyanate by Staudinger reaction, and finally get radish sulforaphane by H2O2 oxidation.
2. Semi-synthetic method
It is a combination of chemical synthesis and enzymatic method, using glucoraphanin structural analogs as raw material which is cheap and easy to obtain, but before extracting thioglucoside needs to go through enzyme inactivation treatment, in addition to adding exogenous thioglucosidase and then through hydrolysis to obtain sulforaphane.
Both of these methods require the use of large amounts of organic solvents, which can cause pollution to the environment and are not conducive to the application of sulforaphane in practice.
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