Flavonoids are a group of phytochemicals, which are valued as important compounds in nutrition and medicine. As plant metabolites, they are known to be beneficial for health by acting as antioxidants and exhibiting anti-inflammatory effects. Due to these health-beneficial effects, flavonoids are used in nutraceutical, pharmaceutical, medicinal and cosmetic production. Flavonoid molecules are found in a variety of fruits, vegetables, grains, roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and bark.
To process flavonoids as nutritional supplements, pharmaceuticals or as active ingredients in food or cosmetic, flavonoids must be released from the plant cell matrix. Therefore a powerful, efficient and reliable extraction method is required. Ultrasonic extraction is a non-thermal isolation technique, which is used in R&D and industry to produce high-quality flavonoid extracts. Being a non-thermal extraction method, ultrasonic extraction prevents the thermal decomposition of heat-sensitive compounds. Furthermore, sonication is known to be a process intensifying method, resulting in very high efficiency and extraction rates, rapid processing and safe operation. Ultrasonic extractors can be run with a wide selection of solvents, including water, ethanol, methanol, water-ethanol mixes, glycerine, vegetable oils, heptane, hexane, isopropanol etc.
Hielscher Ultrasonic is your long-term experienced partner for botanical extraction processes from small to large scale. Covering the full range of ultrasonic systems from hand-held and stand-mounted lab ultrasonicators to fully industrial ultrasonic processors for the inline treatment of very large volumes, Hielscher Ultrasonics can offer you the optimal ultrasonic device for your process.

Read more about the benefits of ultrasonic extraction of flavonoids and other phytochemicals from plants!