Insights on the chemical constituents and hydrothermal carbonization of crescentia cujete l.

• Main Authors: Jose, Judith Clarisse, Oyong, Glenn G., Ajero, Michael Dominic M., Chiong, Irving, Cabrera, Esperanza, Tan, Maria Carmen S.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2020
• Subjects: Crescentia cujete—Analysis; Biology
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/661
• Institution: De La Salle University

Crescentia cujete L. is an evergreen tree that presents several medicinal and industrial applications. This study primarily aimed to present preliminary characterization of the fruit extracts and fruit pulp of Crescentia cujete L. using several analytical techniques. Characterization of the crude MeOH extract and pure compound, trans-cinnamic acid, isolated from the fruit extract were performed using gas chromatography-electron ionization-mass spectrometry (GC-EI-MS). Lyophilized pulp was characterized by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Hydrochar samples resulting from hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) of fruit pulp were characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Eight constituents were eluted from the crude MeOH extract which were mainly composed of furan (5-Hydroxymethylfurfural, 53.99%), a pyranone derivative (2,3-dihydro-3,5-dihydroxy-6-methyl-4H-pyran-4-one, 8.68%) and a carboxylic acid (3-phenyl-2-propenoic acid, 7.94% or compound 5). Other notable compounds of the extract include furaneol (0.78% and 1.56%), phenol, 2,4-bis(1,1-dimethylethyl)-(3.73%), benzenepropanoic acid, 3,5-bis(1,1-dimethylethyl)-4-hydroxy-, methyl ester (1.15%) and n-hexadecanoic acid (0.59%). GC-EI-MS confirmed the purity of the isolated compound trans-cinnamic acid (100%). EDX analysis showed high levels of K2O (79.56%), P2O5 (9.925%), and SO3 (9.131%) from the lyophilized pulp. Aliphatic compounds such as alkanes and alkenes were mostly present in both hydrochars as revealed by FTIR analyses. SEM and TGA analyses showed degradation of the lignin components of both hydrochars after the hydrothermal carbonization process. These results present the chemical characterization of the C. cujete fruit and the HTC of the pulp biomass which exhibited promising properties for applications as solid fuel or as an adsorbent. © 2020, Malaysian Society of Analytical Sciences. All rights reserved.