Synthesis of Ammonium-Based Ionic Liquids for the Extraction Process of a Natural Pigment (Betanin)

The use of new synthesized ammonium-based ionic liquids was explored as an alternative to the current process implemented in the betanin extraction from red beet juice, resulting in high yields: 70% and 82%. Betanin is a vegetal pigment that has been applied to a large variety of products in the food industry, which is important, for it can work as a substitute for the red synthetic dyes used nowadays. Additionally, the use of the kosmotropic salt sodium acetate was explored in order to separate the complex formed by the ionic liquid and pigment of interest in a process that combined two techniques: ATPS (aqueous two-phase system) and SOES (salting-out extraction system). The results reveal that the studied techniques could work as a novel process for the extraction of betanin from red beet juice employing ionic liquids, which have not been tested for this purpose in other research.