**Author details**

date, there is no universal extraction procedure suitable for extraction of all plant phenolics. The choice of an extraction method should maximize pigment recovery [237] with a minimal

Solvent extraction involving the use of acidic solvents has been the most commonly used method [36, 79] for the recovery of diverse compounds found in flavonoids, including anthocyanins. The traditional solid-liquid or liquid-liquid extraction offers good recovery. Nevertheless, they are often described as laborious, time and solvent consuming and prone to errors. However, in recent years there are trends toward other environmentally and economically friendlier extraction techniques [38, 39, 110, 167, 184, 206, 238] using a smaller amount of (nontoxic) solvents and sample sizes, reducing working time and increasing selectivity, specificity, recovery and potential of automation. MAE, SFE, PLE, or PHWE are among the greener techniques that have experienced a large increase in recent years to extract anthocyanins from

amount of adjuncts and minimal degradation or alteration of the natural state.

plant material and other samples.

136 Phenolic Compounds - Natural Sources, Importance and Applications

CCC Countercurrent chromatography

EDTA Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid HHP High hydrostatic pressure extraction HPLC High-performance liquid chromatography HSCCC High-speed countercurrent chromatography

MAE Microwave-assisted extraction

MS/MS Triple quadrupole mass spectrometer

UPLC Ultra performance liquid chromatography

Uv-Vis Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy

MS Mass spectrometry

MTBE Methyl tert-butyl ether NMR Nuclear magnetic resonance PHWE Pressurized hot water extraction PLE Pressurized liquid extraction QToF Quadrupole-time of flight SFE Supercritical fluid extraction

SPE Solid phase extraction TFA Trifluoroacetic acid

DAD Diode array detection

**Abbreviations**

Julia Martín, María José Navas, Ana María Jiménez-Moreno and Agustín G. Asuero\*

\*Address all correspondence to: asuero@us.es

Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, The University of Seville, Seville, Spain
