DETERMINING OPTIMIZED CONDITIONS FOR REMOVAL OF CHLOROPHYLL IN EXTRACTED LIQUID FROM NEEM LEAVES BY DISTILLED WATER BY RESPONSE SURFACE METHOD

Abstract

Chlorophyll content in liquid ethanol extract of neem’s leaves has bad effect on quality and storage time of the extract. In this study, we tried to remove remaining chlorophyll in the liquid ethanol extract of neem’s leaves by distilled water. The results showed that after chlorophyll removing, the liquid extract still retained almost all the biological activity ingredients (limonoid). Three effecting factors, i.e., (i) The time to cool to precipitate chlorophyll in the extracted liquid, (ii) The initial content of chlorophyll; (iii) The ratio between the extracted liquid and distilled water added all affect chlorophyll removal efficiency, have been studied. The Response Surface Method (RSM) showed that, the optimal conditions for removing chlorophyll process, the ratio between extracted liquid and distilled water respectively is 16.8 μg/ml and 1.3 (13:10; v:v). The time to cool to precipitate chlorophyll in the extracted liquid didi not have significantly affect on the performance of the removing chlorophyll’s contents.