Optimization of microwave assisted extraction method for obtaining bioactive compounds from propolis

Propolis, one of the most important products of apitherapy applications and bee products, is both a functional food and a component with great therapeutic effects. Propolis is a mixture of compounds secreted by bees together with resins collected from plants, and has characteristic properties such as antioxidant, antimicrobial, antibacterial, anticancer, antiviral, antiinflammatory and neuroprotective, which by various components in its chemical profile show separately and synergistically. Microwave assisted extraction method stands out as a fast, environmentally friendly, and effective method with reduced extraction time to efficiently extract propolis components. Soft computing-based chemometric studies are needed to model and optimize complex processes such as extraction. For this reason, in this study, the conditions of microwave-assisted solvent extraction of bioactive CAPE from propolis, a valuable bee product, with a green and simple technique, were modeled and optimized using chemometric methods. In addition, the potential of CAPE in propolis was evaluated with dependent variables, TPC (Total Phenolic Content), TFC (Total Flavonoid Content), TAADPPH (Total Antioxidant Activity DPPH Method) and TAA-FRAP (Total Antioxidant Activity FRAP Method). In the study, randomized response surface methodology (RSM)- Rotatable Central composite design (CCD) was used, multi-response optimization was solved with the help of Pareto solutions, and the desirability function was used to determine the optimum input variable values. In experimental design, EtOH/water ratio (%), microwave power (W), extraction time (min), and solvent/solid ratio (mL/g) are independent variables.