Effects of Different Solvents on Natural Dye Extraction from Clitoria ternatea
Abstract
Dyes worldwide are drawing attention to the health risks they pose, thereby beckoning radical change toward better alternatives. Synthetic dyes are large, complex molecules that are resistant to biodegradation, leading to various environmental issues. The trend in natural products has been toward natural dyes, particularly those derived from flowering parts, such as the flowers of Clitoria ternatea, which produce blue colors due to anthocyanins. This research aims to extract anthocyanins from Clitoria ternatea using two solvents: distilled water and ethanol. The most efficient solvent for the extraction of natural dyes from Clitoria ternatea was determined by focusing on two key parameters: extraction time and pH. The total anthocyanin content was determined using UV-Vis spectroscopy; the presence of functional groups was analyzed by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR); and the color attributes of Clitoria ternatea were assessed using a chroma meter. The results showed that distilled water consistently yielded higher anthocyanin content than ethanol, with the highest value at 60 minutes of extraction. FTIR analysis confirmed the presence of key functional groups associated with anthocyanins, while color analysis indicated that higher anthocyanin content corresponded to darker and more intense blue coloration. These findings demonstrate that distilled water is a more effective and environmentally friendly solvent for anthocyanin extraction. The information presented may serve as a basis for further research on the extraction of natural dyes, advancing the process and enabling the creation of new natural products.
References
Affat, S. S., 2021. "Classifications, advantages, disadvantages, toxicity effects of natural and synthetic dyes: A review." Univ. Thi-Qar J. Sci., 8, 130-135.
Azemi, N. A., Mansur, S. A., and Rehan, A. M., 2022. "Anthocyanins from flower extract of Clitoria ternatea to attenuate food-borne pathogen (Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus) for potential application as natural food preservative." PEAT., 3, 84-93.
Bujak, T., Zagórska-Dziok, M., Ziemlewska, A., Nizioł-Łukaszewska, Z., Wasilewski, T., and Hordyjewicz-Baran, Z., 2021. "Antioxidant and cytoprotective properties of plant extract from dry flowers as functional dyes for cosmetic products." Molecules, 26, 2809. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26092809
Di Khanh, N., 2015. "Advances in the extraction of anthocyanin from vegetables." J. Food Nutr. Sci., 3, 126-134. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfns.s.2015030102.34
Farooq, S., Shah, M. A., Siddiqui, M. W., Dar, B. N., Mir, S. A., and Ali, A., 2020. "Recent trends in extraction techniques of anthocyanins from plant materials." J. Food Meas. Charact., 14, 3508-3519. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11694-020-00598-8
Giusti, M. M., and Wrolstad, R. E., 2001. "Characterization and measurement of anthocyanins by UV-visible spectroscopy." Curr. Protoc. Food Anal. Chem., 1, F1.2.1-13. https://doi.org/10.1002/0471142913.faf0102s00
Hamzah, Y., Jumat, N. A., and Sembok, W. W., 2013. "Effect of drying on the storage stability of encapsulated anthocyanins powder extract from butterfly pea flower Clitoria ternatea." 13th ASEAN Food Conference, Singapore.
Hutajulu, T. F., and Yulistia, A., Year. "Study on extraction of blue colouring telang's Clitoria ternatea L. and its characteristics." Indonesian Journal of Industrial Research, 23 (2), 9-16.
Jamil, N., Mohd Zairi, M. N., Mohd Nasim, N. A., and Pa’ee, F., 2018. "Influences of environmental conditions to phytoconstituents in Clitoria ternatea butterfly pea flower – A review." J. Sci. Technol., 10, 208-228. https://doi.org/10.30880/jst.2018.10.02.029
López-Bascón, M., and Luque de Castro, M., 2020. Chapter 11 - Soxhlet extraction In Liquid-Phase Extraction. Handbooks in Separation Science. Elsevier. pp. 327-354.
Mehmood, A., Ishaq, M., Zhao, L., Yaqoob, S., Safdar, B., Nadeem, M., Munir, M., and Wang, C., 2019. "Impact of ultrasound and conventional extraction techniques on bioactive compounds and biological activities of blue butterfly pea flower Clitoria ternatea L." Ultrason. Sonochem., 51, 12-19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ultsonch.2018.10.013
Netravati, Gomez, S., Pathrose, B., N, M. R., P, M. J., and Kuruvila, B., 2022. "Comparative evaluation of anthocyanin pigment yield and its attributes from butterfly pea Clitoria ternatea L. flowers as prospective food colorant using different extraction methods." Future Foods, 6, 100199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fufo.2022.100199
Pham, T. N., Lam, T. D., Nguyen, M. T., Le, X. T., Vo, D.-V. N., Toan, T. Q., and Vo, T. S., 2019. "Effect of various factors on extraction efficiency of total anthocyanins from butterfly pea Clitoria ternatea L. flowers in Southern Vietnam." IOP Conf. Ser. Mater. Sci. Eng., 544, 012013. https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/544/1/012013
Ramdan, S. R. K., and Wulandari, R., 2023. "Determination of anthocyanin levels in telang flower Clitoria ternatea using the differential pH method based on three types of solvents." Jurnal Kesehatan STIKes. 10(1), 45–53. https://doi.org/10.52221/jurkes.v10i1.203
Rein, M., 2005. Copigmentation reactions and color stability of berry anthocyanins. University of Helsinki, PhD thesis, Helsinki, Russia.
Soenarsih, S., Abdullatif, Z., Nurhasanah, and Rasulu, H., 2023. "Characteristics of anthocyanin as natural dyes from butterfly pea Clitoria ternatea L. in North Maluku." Int. J. Adv. Sci. Eng. Inf. Techno., 13, 1283. https://doi.org/10.18517/ijaseit.13.4.18246
Zamri, T. K. A. T. M., Abd Munaim, M. S., and Wahid, Z. A., 2016. "Extraction optimization of natural dye from Clitoria ternatea flower by OFAT." National Conference for Postgraduate Research, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Malaysia.
Copyright (c) 2026 ASEAN Journal of Chemical Engineering
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Copyright holder for articles is ASEAN Journal of Chemical Engineering. Articles published in ASEAN J. Chem. Eng. are distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license.
Authors agree to transfer all copyright rights in and to the above work to the ASEAN Journal of Chemical Engineering Editorial Board so that the Editorial Board shall have the right to publish the work for non-profit use in any media or form. In return, authors retain: (1) all proprietary rights other than copyright; (2) re-use of all or part of the above paper in their other work; (3) right to reproduce or authorize others to reproduce the above paper for authors’ personal use or for company use if the source and the journal copyright notice is indicated, and if the reproduction is not made for the purpose of sale.
