Recovery of some elements from Empetrum nigrum L. growing in the Kola Peninsula using acid-based deep eutectic solvents

Abstract

Empetrum nigrum L. (crowberry) is a useful berry plant growing in the Polar region, in particular in the Kola Peninsula. Crowberry berries and leaves are both used in food, beverage, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic production. Developing extraction techniques for such plant raw materials processing is very actual and needs comprehensive study. Commonly, studies are focused of determination of the bioactive components in extracts, but for application it is important to know micro-, macro-, and toxic elements containing in obtained extracts. One of the modern methods of extraction is applying deep eutectic solvents. In this research extracts of E. nigrum L. were obtained using mixtures of choline chloride and malonic, malic, tartaric and citric acids with 30 wt.% of water. Mass-spectrometry with inductively coupled plasma was used for estimation of various metals recovery from plant material. It is obtained that extracts based on deep eutectic solvents are characterized by low concentrations of toxic and rare metals, and relatively high concentrations of macro- and micro-nutrient metals.