What Do You Want? Conditions for Selective Recovery of Metabolites with Antioxidant Activity of Sambucus nigra L.

Extracts from the flowers and fruits of Sambucus nigra L. have various applications as colorants and adjuvants in the food, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industries. It is therefore necessary to establish optimal conditions for the production of these extracts. The objective of this study was to compare different extraction conditions that allow the recovery of polyphenols and flavonoids with antioxidant activity from the aerial parts of S. nigra. For this purpose, the following extraction conditions were analyzed: maceration (M) and ultrasound-assisted (U), as well as extractant mixtures with five different proportions of ethanol and water; TPC and TFC were determined using spectroscopic methods, a preliminary analysis was performed by HPLC-DAD, and the content of chlorogenic acid and rutin was quantified. Similarly, the extracts were evaluated for their antioxidant capacity in ABTS, DPPH, and FRAP assays. Finally, PCA was performed to comprehensively analyze the relationship between the results obtained. The results showed that the extraction conditions determine the recovery of bioactive compounds such as polyphenols and antioxidant activity, with the highest yields obtained with 4M and 5M, and the extracts with the highest TPC and TFC being 5U and 1M, respectively. Likewise, the highest concentrations of chlorogenic acid and rutin were found in condition 2M, and the best antioxidant capacity was observed under extraction conditions 3U. This was confirmed by PCA, which indicated that extraction conditions influence yield, recovery of phenolic compounds, and antioxidant capacity. Therefore, these results indicate that there is no single condition that achieves the best parameters for this species, but rather that specific conditions must be applied depending on the metabolite groups and antioxidant activity.