Avaliação da utilização da enzima no rendimento da obtenção do óleo essencial de orégano (Origanum vulgare L.)

Abstract

The essential oil of oregano (Origanum vulgare L.) has several beneficial properties and wide application in pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries, being the antioxidant, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activity the most prominent. Due to the increase in the commercial search for its use and application in the areas mentioned, it is necessary to search for alternatives that aim to improve the final yield of oregano essential oil, without altering its physical-chemical characteristics and properties. Thus, this work aimed to evaluate the obtainment of higher yield of oregano essential oil from the application of cellulase and hemicellulase enzymes, in a pre-treatment of the plant leaves. The extraction by the conventional method was performed by hydrodistillation using a Clevenger apparatus for two hours. For the extractions using the enzymes cellulase and hemicellulase, a pre-treatment of contact between plant and enzyme was performed for two hours, and then the extraction was performed according to the standard methodology. When the essential oils were obtained, they were evaluated for density and refractive index, as well as the antioxidant capacity with the methodologies of free radical cation capture (ABTS) and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH). The results obtained showed that, from the pretreatment methodology implemented, the use of cellulase enzyme resulted in the best result, with the highest yield among the extractions. With the hemicellulase, a lower yield was obtained in relation to the standard extraction. Furthermore, it was observed that, for the physical and antioxidant analysis of essential oils, the application of enzymes did not change their properties or loss of antioxidant activity. Therefore, in general, the use of cellulase enzyme allowed an improvement in yield gain among the methodologies used, without changing their properties.