LAUSR

Abstract The objective of this work is to extract phenolic compounds from Punica granatum L. peel and to optimize the process variables. In this study, extraction was carried out using soxhlet, solvent and ultrasound-assisted extraction. Soxhlet extraction of phenolic compounds were reported as 87.31 mg GAE/g dW TPC, 70.30 mg RUE/g dW TFC and 98.68 mg CE/g dW TAC. Solvent extraction found 56.99 mg GAE/g dW, 42.93 mg RUE/g dW and 64.13 mg CE/g dW, while for ultrasonic-assisted extraction it was 77.23 mg GAE/g dW, 62.55 mg RUE/g dW and 91.40 mg CE/g dW of total phenolic content, total flavonoid content and total amount of anthocyanin content, respectively. The presence of phytochemicals was identified using GC-MS and it was found that the extracts contained high amount of trans-13-Octadecenoic acid which is a cancer preventive compound. Scanning electron microscope analysis was used to study the effect of ultrasound on the surface of the sample and understand the morphological changes.