Electric-Field-Assisted Extraction of Garlic Polysaccharides via Experimental Transformer Device.

Using the mutual conversion between electric energy and magnetic energy, we designed and built an experimental device based on the o-core transformer structure for extraction of garlic polysaccharides. That is, an acidic solvent acted as the secondary coil conductor under the action of alternating magnetic flux and then induced an electric field in the biochemical medium (the sample and extractant) at 20-60 kHz. The polysaccharide yield improved, in comparison to the conventional heating method, when the excitation voltage applied on the primary coil was increased. Low pH helps to improve the polysaccharide yield due to the enhancement of the ionic conduction resulting from the induced electric field. However, the polysaccharide yield decreases with the increase of partial frequency due to the resulting decrease in the input power of the system. The orthogonal experiments showed that the excitation voltage, frequency, pH, and temperature all significantly affected the polysaccharide yield. The garlic polysaccharide extracted by using the induced electric field method had a DPPH radical scavenging ability and a ferric-reducing power. This novel system is a potential alternative for the extraction of garlic polysaccharides without the use of powered electrodes inserted into solutions, unlike other electric-field-assisted techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]