Backgroud: Gac is a fruit containing many antioxidants, especially lycopene, with high concentration. However the variety and value of products from gac are limited. We introduce a modified method to produce lycopene and others carotenoids from gac oil towards available and safe applications in nutraceutical and cosmetics.
Materials and method: We study the extraction with different parameters and limit at the saponification of gac oil using less toxic substances such as ethanol, propylene glycol, postasium hydroxide and sodium chlorid.
Results: Concentrations of lycopene and β-carotene determined silmutaneously by UVVis spectrophotometer present that the efficiency reaches 65.07% as 20 g of gac oil is saponified with 8 g KOH 12 mol/L in 120 mins. The purity of product is 89.02%.
Conclusions: This process could minimize toxic residue in the powder after the precipitation, filtration and washing. Besides, the method is stable and applicable to the mass production.
Key words: Carotenoids, Lycopene, safe extraction, UV Vis silmutaneous concentration determination
