Ultrasound-Assisted Extraction of Phenolic Compounds from Polyscias fruticosa (L.) Harms Root

Polyscias fruticosa (L.) Harms root extracts were obtained and separated using ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) with the preset optimal parameters, such as solvent/solid (SS) ratio (50/1, mL g–1), ethanol concentration (40%, v/v), temperature (45 °C), and extraction time (20 min). The best values of the total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant capacity (AC) of the extracts under these extraction conditions were 2.13 ± 0.02 mg of gallic acid equivalents (GAE) per gram of dry sample weight (DW) for TPC and 78.13 ± 0.25% for AC. In addition, the structure of the plant material was examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM): it was revealed that the structure of the residues changed completely as a result of the ultrasound treatment compared to the initial material.