Microwave-Assisted Extraction of Trimyristin from Nutmeg using Ethanol: A Greener Approach for the Undergraduate Organic Chemistry Laboratory

Abstract

The extraction of trimyristin from nutmeg, a species of the genus Myristica fragrans, is a typical experiment executed in the organic chemistry teaching laboratory. In this vein, trimyristin was extracted from nutmeg using the microwave-assisted extraction (MEA) method with 95% ethanol and diethyl ether. This MEA procedure promised to be more practical than pre-existing protocols utilized in the undergraduate teaching laboratory. This study established ethanol, a greener solvent than diethyl ether, as more efficient with up to 20% isolated crude yield for extracting this triglyceride from nutmeg using MEA. The recrystallized trimyristin was characterized by melting point, IR, 1H-, and 13C-NMR spectroscopy.