Pigments extraction from monascus-fermented durian seed

Durian seed has been studied as a new substrate for Monascus solid state fermentation. Monascuspurpureus produce yellow, orange and red pigments during the fermentation. The purposes of this research were to study the pigment extraction from the Monascus-fermented durian seed (MFDS) by using ethanol and water at various ratios and to analyze the pigment composition of the extracted pigment. The extraction was conducted in a 250 mL Erlenmeyer with 1 g of powdered MFDS and 50 mL of solvent at various ethanol:water ratios (10:0; 9:1; 8:2; 7:3; 6:4 and 5:5), in a shaking waterbath at different temperature (30oC and 60oC), 100 rpm agitation for 2 hours. The extracts were subjected to pigment content analysis by using a spectrophotometer and thin layer chromatography (TLC). Extract with the highest pigment content was then subjected to pigment compounds detection by using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). The results showed that extraction at 30oC was more effective than that at 60oC. The lower the ethanol:water ratio until 7:3, the higher the pigment content extracted. However, the lower the ratio tends to lower pigment content. Interestingly, the lower ethanol:water ratio, more viscous extract resulted. The TLC analysis showed that the extracts contained various pigments. Consistent with those results of TLC, various pigment compounds detected by LC-MS