Determination of luteolin and apigenin in celery using ultrasonic‐assisted extraction based on aqueous solution of ionic liquid coupled with HPLC quantification

BACKGROUND: Ionic liquids are a class of organic salts with melting points equal to or below 100 °C, and their use in sample preparation has shown its promise, for example, in alleviation of environmental pollution and improvement of selectivity and extraction of certain interesting compounds. RESULTS: Optimal conditions were obtained by using 1.0 mol L −1 1‐butyl‐3‐methylimidazolium methylsulfate ([Bmim][MS]) aqueous solution at pH 1.0 as the extraction solvent. An ultrasonic power of 200 W was chosen to ensure complete dispersion of [Bmim][MS] into celery in 90 min and the solid:liquid ratio was 1:10. CONCLUSION: The proposed ultrasonic assistant extraction approach, based on ionic liquid aqueous solution, exhibited satisfactory results, with recovery values ranging from 72.7% to 89.5%. Under optimal conditions, compared with conventional solvent extraction amounts of luteolin and apigenin were more than doubled. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry