Abstract

Background: Recent trends in the extraction of bioactive compounds from medicinal plants have largely focused on using green solvents. In this study, green solvents were developed for the extraction of andrographolide from Andrographis paniculata, and the antioxidant activity of the extracts was compared. Materials and method: Different deep eutectic solvents (DESs) were synthesized. Then, the DESs were used to extract andrographolide from Andrographis paniculata. The antioxidant activity of the extracts was evaluated using the DPPH free radical inhibition method. Results: A total of 48 combinations of deep eutectic solvents (DESs) were initially tested, and eventually, 16 DESs were selected for the extraction process. Among them, ChCl-Lac and ChCl-Act-H2O exhibited the highest yields of andrographolide from Andrographis paniculata, with yields of 2.34 ± 0.11% and 2.51 ± 0.08%, respectively. These yields were higher compared to those obtained using MeOH (2.12 ± 0.02%) and EtOH (2.14 ± 0.07%). The antioxidant activity of the extracts was found to be directly proportional to the concentration of andrographolide present. Notably, the extracts obtained using ChCl-Lac and ChCl-Act-H2O demonstrated the most effective inhibition of DPPH radicals. Conclusion: The results of the study contributed to the development of a sustainable extraction procedure for andrographolide extraction from Andrographis paniculata. In which, two DESs of ChCl-Lac and ChCl-Act-H2O gave the highest andrographolide extraction efficiency from Andrographis paniculata