Microwave-assisted extraction of free amino acids from foods

A microwave-assisted solvent extraction technique was developed for the extraction of free amino acids from foods. Four different samples were subjected to microwave extraction with varying amounts of extractant at several temperature values, for varying times to determine optimum extraction conditions. The extractions were performed with or without shaking the vessels in order to investigate the effects of mixing on the extraction efficiency and reproducibility, A comparison was made between this method and the traditional Ih shaking extraction. The experiments indicated that the microwave-assisted extraction is an effective technique for the extraction of free amino acids from samples of plant or animal origin. The extraction yields obtained by the microwave method were about 10% better than by the conventional shaking technique. The limes needed for the complete sample preparations were reduced by 66% with the application of microwaves.