Abstract

GALLARDO CABRERA, Cecilia; PAZMINO ARTEAGA, Jhonathan David  and  ENRIQUEZ BENAVIDES, Iván Santiago. Extraction and rheological characterization of Malvaviscus penduliflorus (sleeping hibiscus) mucilage. Rev Cubana Plant Med [online]. 2013, vol.18, n.4, pp. 567-574. ISSN 1028-4796.

Introduction: mucilages have a variety of important applications in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, among others. The main advantage of these polymeric compounds is that they are biocompatible, economical and easily available.Objectives: develop a method to extract mucilage from sleeping hibiscus leaves and describe its rheological behavior. Methods: five procedures were applied to obtain the mucilage: boiling, bain-marie, microwave, ultrasound and reflux. Rheological characterization of the mucilages was then conducted at a temperature of 25ºC. Their yield was assessed through determination of the viscosity of solutions. Agreement with the results was verified with the rheological method, applying a gravimetric assay in which the mucilage was first precipitated with ethanol, and then dried and weighed. Results: five light-brown, viscous solutions were obtained that contained mucilage. Determination was conducted of the rheogram for each solution, which showed that the most viscous solution was the one obtained by reflux, and that all curves presented pseudoplastic behavior. Five dry precipitates were obtained with the gravimetric technique. Their color was similar to that of solutions. Conclusions: the appropriate technique to extract mucilage from sleeping hibiscus is refluxing. This result was demonstrated by rheometry and gravimetry. The rheological behavior of the hydrocolloid is non-Newtonian with pseudoplastic flux properties, which makes it a potential material for the stabilization of colloidal dispersions.

Keywords : biopolymers; viscosity; pseudoplastic; mucilage.

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