Measurement and PC-SAFT Modeling of the Solubility of Gallic Acid in Aqueous Mixtures of Deep Eutectic Solvents

Abstract

Deep eutectic solvents have appeared as potential solvents for improving the extraction of polyphenols from vegetable or fruit matrixes. Since gallic acid is abundant in these sources, it is considered as a typical standard for quantifying their total polyphenol content after extraction with solvents. However, there are no extensive studies on the solubility behavior of gallic acid in different solvents or deep eutectic solvents. Thus, in this work, the solubility of gallic acid is measured in pure water; aqueous solutions of different hydrogen bond donors such as ethylene glycol, levulinic acid, and glycerol; and aqueous mixtures of deep eutectic solvents using choline chloride as the hydrogen bond acceptor and ethylene glycol, levulinic acid, and glycerol as the hydrogen bond donors. All of the measurements were performed at 293.15, 303.15, and 313.15 K and at 101.3 kPa and were validated by comparing the solubility of gallic acid in water from the literature. Results suggest that a 50 wt % aqueous solution of deep eutectic solvent based on ethylene glycol or glycerol improves the gallic acid solubility compared with a 50 wt % aqueous solution of its corresponding hydrogen bond donor. The deep eutectic solvent containing levulinic acid acts as the best aqueous mixture for gallic acid dissolution. Nondissolved gallic acid was measured after equilibrium using powder X-ray diffraction, showing that its structure does not change upon mixing with all of the liquid mixtures. All of the solid–liquid equilibrium results were accurately modeled with perturbed-chain statistical associating fluid theory (PC-SAFT).