JPH02268121A - Production of plant essence - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To effectively obtain plant essence containing a physiologically active substance stably existing, having extremely slight smell and bitterness by treating a mixture of a substrate containing a starch and plant essence with an enzyme to form an inclusion compound containing the plant essence as a guest. CONSTITUTION:A mixture of a substrate containing at least one selected from a starch, a constituent component (e.g. amylose or amylopectin) of starch and a decomposition reaction product (e.g. white dextrin or oxidized starch) of starch and a plant essence (e.g. saponin) is treated with an enzyme such as cyclodextrin forming enzyme or maltooligosaccharide forming enzyme to give an inclusion compound consisting of an inclusion host produce by the enzyme and an inclusion guest derived from the plant essence. 10-500 pts.wt., preferably 100-300 pts.wt. substrate is used based on 100 pts.wt. solid content of plant essence.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial Field of Application) The present invention relates to a method for producing a plant extract. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method for effectively producing a plant extract in which the physiologically active substances contained therein can be stably present and have extremely low odor and bitterness.

(Conventional technology) Medicinal ginseng, cinnamon bark, oren, licorice, soju,
Extracts obtained from plants such as digitalis contain various physiologically active substances (terpenoids, carotenoids, steroids,
vitamins, flavonoids.

Contains tannins, quinones, alkaloids, peptides, etc.). Therefore, such plant extracts.

Traditionally, it has been used for pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and food, and recently it has been used in bath salts, shampoos, perfumes, and perfume bags.

It is also widely used for pillows, etc.

Such plant extracts can be obtained by - Crushing fresh or dried plants as necessary, adding a solvent such as water or ethanol, and allowing the plant components to stand still or stirred for a certain period of time in a heated state. Obtained by extraction.

In order to preserve plant extracts for a long period of time, methods of concentrating, drying or freezing the extract, or canning the extract are used. Treatment methods using acids or alkalis may also be employed. However, among these methods, if heat is applied to concentrate or treated with acid or alkali, the contained physiologically active substances often change in quality or lose their activity.

When preserving plant extracts, it would be convenient if they could be stored in powdered form. In some cases, the vacuum-dried or freeze-dried plant extract can be pulverized by appropriate pulverization. However, if the powder is left in an open state, it often absorbs moisture from the air and turns into a candy-like substance.

JP-A No. 63-7i160 discloses a method in which the above-mentioned plant extract is pulverized and the physiologically active substances contained in the plant extract can be kept stable. In this method, a host of clathrate compounds such as cyclodextrins and maltooligosaccharides are added to the plant extract. One of the hosts (host molecules) of the clathrate compound used here, for example, cyclodextrin, has six or more glucose molecules bonded with α-1,4 to form a cyclic structure,
Mainly glucose units are 6,7. Or 8 α−
9β-1 or T-type cyclodextrin is known. Furthermore, recently, branched cyclodextrins in which 1 to 3 malto-oligosaccharides and α to 1.6 linkages are bonded to the cyclodextrin ring are also known. These cyclodextrins are generally

It clathrates hydrophobic guest molecules in an aqueous solution to form a relatively stable clathrate compound (host-guest molecule). That is, the hydrophobic physiologically active substance in the plant extract can be stably retained in the host molecule. Therefore, the powder obtained above has no hygroscopicity, and the plant extract components are kept chemically stable.

In the above-mentioned publication, in order to generate such a clathrate compound, a method is adopted in which a predetermined amount of a clathrate compound guest is added to a plant extract and the mixture is thoroughly stirred. but,
In this method, stirring takes a long time, and depending on the stirring conditions, clathrate compounds may not be sufficiently formed. Therefore, a plant extract that can maintain physiologically active substances in a stable state cannot be obtained.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) The present invention solves the above conventional problems, and its purpose is to provide a plant extract that can be stored for a long period of time without changing the physiologically active substances contained therein. The purpose of this invention is to provide a method for manufacturing the same. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing a plant extract, which uses a suitable host of clathrate compounds to clathrate the components of a plant extract and maintains the components in a stable state for a long period of time. be. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing a plant extract that can be stably maintained in a powdered state.

(Means for solving problems) The method for producing a plant extract of the present invention uses starch.

An enzyme is allowed to act on a mixture of a plant extract and a substrate containing at least one selected from the group consisting of starch constituents and starch decomposition reaction products.

The above object is achieved by producing an clathrate compound consisting of a clathrate hydrate produced by the enzyme and a clathrate guest derived from the plant extract.

The plants used to obtain plant extracts by the method of the present invention are not particularly limited. Medicinal ginseng, digitalis.

Medicinal plants containing saponin are particularly preferred, such as licorice and licorice. plant extracts.

Water or an appropriate organic solvent (e.g. alcoholic solvent such as ethanol) from the raw or dried products of these plants.
Extracted using For example, the above-mentioned extraction solvent is added to these plants, and the extraction is performed in a heated state while standing or stirring. In particular, when the plant is raw, it is recommended to crush the tissue of the plant and filter or centrifuge the crushed product to obtain an extract.

The enzyme used in the present invention is not particularly limited as long as it can produce a compound that can serve as a host for an inclusion compound such as cyclodextrin or maltooligosaccharide.

For example, cyclodextrin-producing enzymes include enzymes produced by Bacillus macerans (Japanese, C, 2, 4,
1,19>, enzyme produced by Bacillus stearothermophilus (E, C, 2,4,1゜19), Bacillus stearothermophilus
Enzymes produced by Megatherium (B, C, 2,4, Li
2) etc. are preferably used. As a maltooligosaccharide-producing enzyme (α-amylase).

Enzyme produced by Bacillus licheniformis (B.

C,3,2゜1.1), enzyme produced by Bacillus circulans (B, C,3,2,1,1), enzyme produced by Aerobacter aerogenes (B, C,3
, 2, 1, 1), etc. are preferably used.

The substrate that can be used by the enzyme to produce a host of clathrate compounds contains at least one selected from the group consisting of starch, starch constituents, and starch decomposition reaction products. The above starch includes potato,
There are starches obtained from raw materials such as corn, corn, waxy corn, barley, wheat, and tapioca.

Components of starch include amylose, amylopectin, and the like. Decomposition products of starch include white dextrin; yellow dextrin; roasted dextrin such as British gum; oxidized starch; modified starch such as low-viscosity modified starch obtained by treatment with enzymes or acids, or by high-speed mechanical stirring. : Starch derivatives such as starch ethers and starch esters represented by starch phosphate and starch acetate; Starch irradiated with radiation or neutron beams, or treated with high frequency or heat treatment (physically treated starch); α-starch, etc. can be mentioned. When raw starch is used as a substrate, it is preferable to solubilize the raw starch in advance using enzymes such as α-amylase, cyclodextrin-forming enzyme, pullulanase, acid, alkali, etc. Two or more of these substrate components may be used in combination.

To prepare a plant extract containing a clathrate compound by the method of the present invention, the substrate and plant extract are dissolved in an appropriate amount of water, and the enzyme is added thereto to perform an enzymatic reaction. The concentration of the plant extract at this time is not particularly limited, but is preferably 60% by weight or less from the viewpoint of stirring efficiency of the two reaction solutions. Plant extract and substrate are usually plant extract solids content 10
It is mixed in a proportion of 10 to 500 parts by weight, preferably 100 to 300 parts by weight. The enzyme used in the reaction solution is when the substrate is starch.

It is added at a rate of 1 to 500 U, preferably 10 to 100 U, per 1.0 g of solid content. When the enzyme amount is less than IU, the production rate of clathrate hosts decreases, and when it exceeds 500 U, side reactions other than the clathrate host production reaction occur, resulting in a decrease in the production rate of clathrate compounds (host-guest molecules). What is the temperature of the enzyme reaction at this time?

Although it depends on the type of enzyme used, the temperature is usually in the range of 30 to 80°C, preferably 50 to 60°C. The PL of the reaction solution also varies depending on the type of enzyme used, but when taking into account the stability of the physiologically active substances in the plant extract, it is 5.0.
A range of 8.0 is preferable. What is the reaction time?

It is appropriately set depending on the type of enzyme, substrate concentration, reaction temperature, etc. After the reaction is completed, it is necessary to deactivate the enzyme using means such as heating.

The above enzymatic reaction is usually carried out by a one-time method (batch method) or a continuous method. For example, the reaction tank 1 shown in FIG.
The reaction is carried out continuously using a reaction apparatus 10 having a stirrer 2 and a stirrer 2. A reaction solution 11 containing a plant extract, a substrate, and an enzyme is placed in the reaction tank 1, heated appropriately with a heating device not shown, and stirred with a stirring device 2 to carry out the reaction.

The enzyme forms a host for the clathrate compound, and components of the plant extract are incorporated into this host to form the clathrate compound. The reaction solution 11 is continuously drawn out from the outlet 4 provided at the bottom of the reaction tank 1, and from the input port 3 at the top of the reaction tank 1, enzymes are sent from the reservoir tank (not shown in Figure 1).
Substrate and plant extracts are introduced.

The obtained clathrate compound-containing plant extract may be concentrated by appropriate concentration means, if necessary. Concentration methods include heating evaporation and the like, but reverse osmosis is more efficient. The clathrate compound-containing plant extract thus obtained can also be pulverized by means such as spray drying or freeze drying. The clathrate compound-containing plant extract of the present invention is:

Physiologically active substances derived from plants exist in the form of inclusion in clathrates produced by enzymes.

Therefore, the physiologically active substance remains stable for a long period of time without being decomposed. Powdered extracts can also be stably stored without absorbing moisture. Since it contains plant extract components, it has very little bitterness and odor, and can be suitably used for pharmaceuticals, foods, etc.

(Example) The invention will be illustrated with reference to the following examples.

Example 1 2 kg of potato starch was added to 10 kg of extract obtained by extracting dried Panax ginseng with a 50 W/V % aqueous ethanol solution (extract adjusted to a 20 wt % aqueous solution), and the pH was adjusted to 6 with hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide. Adjusted to .0. Next, 20,000 U of cyclodextrin-producing enzyme derived from Bacillus stearothermophilus (Hayashibara rM) was added per 1 kg of potato starch, and the temperature of the reaction solution was raised to 60°C, which is the reaction temperature of this enzyme, for 8 hours. continued to react. The resulting reaction mixture was heated to 90-9
High temperature treatment at 2°C for 15 minutes.

The enzyme was inactivated. The obtained plant extract was powdered by spray drying.

Example 2 10 kg of a plant extract obtained by extracting dried ginseng with a 50 W/V % ethanol aqueous solution (extract adjusted to a 10 wt % aqueous solution) was mixed with 2 kg of corn starch, and hydroxylated with hydrochloric acid) IJ um and pH
was adjusted to 6.0. Next, 30,000 U of cyclodextrin-producing enzyme derived from Bacillus macerans (manufactured by Ohno Pharmaceutical ■) was added per 1 kg of corn starch.
The temperature of the reaction solution was raised to 50°C, which is the reaction temperature of this enzyme, and the reaction was continued for 10 hours. The resulting reaction mixture was subjected to high temperature treatment at 90 to 92°C for 15 minutes to deactivate the enzyme. The obtained plant extract was concentrated using a reverse osmosis membrane and then dried using a freeze dryer to form a fine powder.

Example 3 3 kg of potato starch was mixed with 10 kg of an extract obtained by extracting digitalis leaves with a 60 W/V % aqueous ethanol solution (extract adjusted to a 20 wt % aqueous solution), and the pH was adjusted to 5 with hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide. Adjusted to .0. Next, 10,000 U of α-amylase derived from Bacillus licheniformis (manufactured by Labo Industry Japan) was added per 1 kg of potato starch, the temperature of the reaction solution was raised to 65°C, which is the reaction temperature of this enzyme, and the reaction was continued for 6 hours. continued. The resulting reaction mixture was subjected to high temperature treatment at 90 to 92°C for 15 minutes to deactivate the enzyme. The obtained plant extract was powdered by spray drying.

Example 4 10 kg of extract (10% by weight aqueous solution) extracted from dried Panax ginseng with hot water was mixed with 2 kg of tapioca starch, and the mixture was hydroxylated with hydrochloric acid to bring the pH to 5.
Adjusted to 0. Next, 15,000 U of α-amylase derived from Bacillus licheniformis (manufactured by Labo Industry Japan) was added per 1 kg of tapioca starch, the temperature of the reaction solution was raised to 65°C, and the reaction was continued for 8 hours. I did this. The resulting reaction mixture was subjected to high temperature treatment at 90 to 92°C for 15 minutes to deactivate the enzyme and obtain a plant extract.

(Effects of the Invention) According to the present invention, a plant extract that does not reduce the activity of physiologically active substances contained in plants and is stable even when powdered is obtained. In addition, such plant extracts have little odor and bitterness, so they can be used in various fields such as pharmaceuticals, foods, and cosmetics.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a reaction apparatus used in the method for producing a plant extract of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Reaction tank, 2... Stirring device, 10... Reactor, 11... Reaction liquid. that's all

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A mixture of a plant extract and a substrate containing at least one selected from the group consisting of starch, starch constituents, and starch decomposition reaction products is treated with an enzyme, and produced by the enzyme. A method for producing a plant extract containing a clathrate compound, which comprises producing a clathrate compound consisting of a clathrate host and a clathrate guest derived from the plant extract. 2. The manufacturing method according to claim 1, wherein the plant extract contains saponin. 3. The enzyme is a cyclodextrin-producing enzyme and/or
or α-amylase, the manufacturing method according to claim 1.