Prospecção fitoquímica da hortaliça não convencional Pereskia aculeata Miller (ora-pro-nóbis)

Abstract

The species Pereskia aculeata Miller, popularly known as ora-pro-nóbis, is part of a group of vegetables called non-conventional or traditional, so named for their cultivation and consumption to be limited only to some regions of Brazil, due to its richness in vitamins and especially for its high protein content has been gaining prominence. With the objective of a better knowledge of its chemical constituents, drying kinetics of fresh leaves at three temperatures (40, 60 and 80 ° C, which were adjusted to the mathematical models of Lewis, Page and Henderson and Pabis, the study of drying kinetics indicated that for the temperatures of 40 and 80 ° C the most adjusted model was and for the temperature of 60 ° C best model was Henderson and Pabis, and Lewis can also be accepted since its coefficient of determination (R²) was above 0.98. The fresh leaves were also submitted to moisture and ash tests, where they presented high moisture content (% Ubu) reaching 89.2% and dry weight humidity (% Ubs) with a value of 12.1%, and the calculated ash content was 1.91%. In this way, two extracts, one lipophilic (chloroform and one 1: 1 ether) and one hydrophilic (70% ethyl alcohol and distilled water) were obtained from the dried leaves at 60 ° C for six phytochemical tests. The main reason for the study of specialized metabolites is to identify in the Pereskia aculeata Miller which flavonoids are present, since they constitute an important class of polyphenols, present in relative abundance in the vegetables and that add several classes of metabolites, among them tannins and alkaloids. The main reason for the study of specialized metabolites is to identify in the Pereskia aculeata Miller which flavonoids are present, since they constitute an important class of polyphenols, present in relative abundance in the vegetables and that add several classes of metabolites, among them tannins and alkaloids. The first extract presented a positive result for the tests of flavonols, flavanones, flavanonols and xanthones, anthocyanins, anthocyanidins and flavonoids, alkaloids and condensed tannins. The hydrophilic extract was positive for the tests of phenols and tannins and of alkaloids. The results obtained from the extractions are considered significant results, from the positive data there is possibility of the identification and isolation of compounds not yet known, which may contain several applications, such as in medicine, but also have a great impact on the economy, political and other social sectors.