A facile water-induced complexation of lycopene and pectin from pink guava byproduct: Extraction, characterization and kinetic studies

The redfleshed pulp discarded from pink guava puree industry is a rich source of lycopene and pectin. In this study, we developed a facile extraction process employing water as the primary extraction medium to isolate the lycopene and pectin from pink guava decanter. When the decanter was suspended in water, the complexation of lycopene and pectin formed the cloudy solution, where the colloidal complexes were recovered through centrifugation. The presence of lycopene and pectin in the complex was confirmed by the spectroscopic, microscopic and chromatographic analyses. The lycopene fractionated from the complexes had a purity level of 99% and was in all-trans configuration. The colloidal complexes yielding the highest concentration of lycopene was obtained at pH 7, 1% (w/v) solid loading and 25 °C. The experimental data of time-course extraction of lycopene-pectin complex were best fitted with two-site kinetic model, hinting the fast- and slow-release phases in the extraction process.