Efficacy and Reusability of Commercial Adsorbent for Isolation of Proanthocyanidins from Hot Water Extract of Pinus radiata Bark

This study was carried out to investigate the feasibility and usefulness of a commercial synthetic adsorbent, Diaion HP 20, for the isolation of proanthocyanidins (PAs) from hot water extract (HWE) prepared from Pinus radiata bark. Most ultraviolet (UV) absorbing materials in HWE were adsorbed onto Diaion HP 20 and easily recovered by simple ethanol (EtOH) washing. More than 50% of the UV absorbing materials were adsorbed within 20 minutes, and the adsorption equilibrium was reached within 3 h. The recovered materials from Diaion HP 20 were mostly composed of PAs, but some monomeric flavonoids such as taxifolin and unidentified hydrophobic materials were also adsorbed. The impurities such as carbohydrates and inorganic materials contained in HWE were mostly removed by Diaion HP 20. The adsorption ability of the UV absorbing materials onto Diaion HP 20 was almost the same as the first cycle even after 14 times of repeating cycles of adsorption and desorption. The radical scavenging ability of the recovered materials from the adsorbent was slightly higher than that of the pure PAs prepared by Sephadex LH 20 from the same HWE.