Vitamins in Plant Extracts-Alfa Chemistry

NEW YORK - Jan. 22, 2019 - PRLog -- A plant extract refers to an active substance extracted from a natural plant. Plant extracts are the main raw materials for botanical preparations and can be used in nutritional supplements, health foods, cosmetics industries. The active ingredients of plant extracts include alkaloids, saponins, vitamins, polyphenols, polypeptides and polysaccharides. Among them, vitamins are both essential nutrients and the most important antioxidants in the human body. Vitamins mainly contain VE, VC and carotenoids. This article focuses on vitamins in plant extracts.

1  VE

VE is a general term for various tocopherols, among which α-tocopherol has the strongest biological activity, and the physiological activities of β-tocopherol, γ-tocopherol and δ-tocopherol are 40%, 8% and 20%, respectively. In most cases, the antioxidant effect of VE is to provide hydrogen ions by reacting with lipoxygen radicals or lipid peroxy radicals, interrupting the lipid peroxidation chain reaction. VE is the most important fat-soluble antioxidant.

2  VC

VC, also known as ascorbic acid, is an acidic polyhydroxy compound containing an alpha-ketolactone of 6 carbon atoms. VC has an enol-type hydroxyl group capable of dissociating hydrogen ions, and is the most important water-soluble antioxidant. It can remove active oxygen radicals by supplying electrons step by step, and can promote regeneration of VE.

3  Carotenoid

There are more than 600 types of carotenoids, all of which have an isoprenoid structure with 11 double bonds. Carotenoids mainly include β-carotene, Lutein, Zeaxanthin, Lycopene and Astaxanthin.

3.1 β-carotene

Studies have found that β-carotene, lutein, zeaxanthin, lycopene and astaxanthin also have significant antioxidant functions. Among them, β-carotene is the most typical representative. β-carotene is a precursor of VA, which has good oxidation resistance, and can suppress the generation of active oxygen by providing electrons, thereby achieving the purpose of scavenging free radicals.

3.2  Lutein and Zeaxanthin

There are 8 kinds of isomers of lutein, which are mainly found in dark green vegetables such as cabbage and spinach, and flowers such as calendula and marigold. Zeaxanthin (https://www.alfa-chemistry.com/zeaxanthin-cas-144-68-3-it...) is mainly found in foods such as hazelnuts, corn, spinach and asian persimmons. The effects of lutein and zeaxanthin are very similar, mainly in reducing the damage of oxidation to the eyes, preventing aging caused by visual speckle degradation, and preventing the oxidation of proteins and lipids in the lens, thereby reducing the incidence of senile cataract.

3.3  Lycopene

Lycopene is an acyclic carotenoid with a chemical structure of a linear, all-trans structure consisting of 11 conjugated double bonds and 2 non-conjugated double bonds. This structure can accept the excitation of different electrons to generate ground state oxygen or triplet oxygen lycopene. A triplet oxygen lycopene can remove thousands of singlet oxygen radicals, and its antioxidant capacity is 100 times that of VE, is the strongest anti-aging antioxidant in nature.

3.4  Astaxanthin

Astaxanthin (https://www.alfa-chemistry.com/cas_7542-45-2.htm) is a special oxidized carotenoid that has not only a long conjugated double bond in the molecule like other carotenoids, but also has a hydroxyl group at the 3 and 4 positions of its two violet rings. These structures have relatively active electronic effects, can provide electrons to free radicals, or capture free radicals by attracting unpaired electrons of free radicals, so astaxanthin has a stronger antioxidant function than general carotenoids.