Aprotic and protic solvent for extraction of chlorophyll from various plants: Chemical characteristic and analysis

Abstract The extraction efficiencies of acetone (80%), ethanol, DMSO, and DMF for chlorophyll extraction from mango, pine, spinach, and hibiscus have been compared. Acetone (80%) has yielded highest amount of chlorophyll-a (chl-a) from pine and ethanol has yielded highest amount of chlorophyll-b (chl-b) from mango leaves. The chl-a/b ratio ranges between 2.481 - 3.794, showing insignificant effect of solvent polarity. The UV - Vis absorption spectra has shown changes with solvent polarity with the polar protic solvent having a broad peak around 664 nm. There has been an insignificant effect of the solvent polarity on extraction of chlorophylls from the selected plants. The ANOVA results have shown a statistically significant difference in chlorophyll extraction efficiencies of different solvents. The absorbance values in the spectral region between 500 - 550 nm has been found to be less than 10 % of the absorbance at 664 nm, indicating tracer amounts of pheophytins and chlorophyll by-products in the solution.