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One thing to mention is, we don’t change the solvent for every cycle. And despite that, when the solvent vaporizes, the components from the sample do not get vaporized. So, each time we get 100% pure solvent vapors.
There are more reasons why the Soxhlet extraction process is leveling up the medicinal mushroom industry but by now you probably get the point: medicinal mushroom products extracted with a Soxhlet extractor are superior to products extracted using the homestyle dual extract or triple extract methodology.M. D. Luque de Castro and F. Priego-Capote, J. Chromatogr. A, 2010, 1217, 2383–2389 CrossRef CAS PubMed. L. Stobinski, B. Lesiak, A. Malolepszy, M. Mazurkiewicz, B. Mierzwa, J. Zemek, P. Jiricek and I. Bieloshapka, J. Electron Spectrosc. Relat. Phenom., 2014, 195, 145–154 CrossRef CAS.
The thimble is a tiny cylindrical container, usually made of cellulose or glass, in which the solid sample to be extracted is held. The thimble, which is put inside the round-bottom flask, allows the extraction solvent to circulate through the sample while keeping the solid residue from escaping into the flask. It is suitable for a variety of organic solvents with different boiling points, and the temperature control range is wide, from room temperature +5°C to 300°C. After the extraction is finished, the Soxhlet apparatusand associated extraction equipment should be thoroughly cleaned and maintained for future use. Key Components of a Soxhlet Extractor The Soxhlet extractor is often used to extract organic compounds from solid samples, such as natural products, flavors, perfumes, and contaminants. Depending on the polarity and solubility of the target molecule, organic solvents such as ethanol, methanol, dichloromethane, and hexane are frequently employed as extraction solvents.The round-bottom flask is the main vessel of the Soxhlet extractor, where the solid sample and extraction solvent are put. It is normally made of glass and is intended to endure high temperatures and pressure during the extraction process. The Soxhlet apparatus allows continuous processing of samples with solvents over hours or days to extract target compounds. We put our sample powder inside the thimble. The powder has to be covered from the bottom with a cotton ball to avoid powder directly falling into the thimble. And also cover the powder from the top.
By now, your eyes might be starting to get a little glossy. But truthfully, all I’ve really covered is that a Soxhlet extractor has a flask for holding the solvent and a tube above it for holding the mushrooms. Pretty simple, right? Let’s push on.First, we need to understand that, the desired component from the sample powder must be soluble in the solvent at high temperatures. Then only we would be able to separate it from other components. It’s okay if other components are soluble too because we can separate them later. Soxhlet extraction is approaching a century and a half of use. During this time, it has firmly established itself as the comparison benchmark as new extraction methodologies are developed. While serious concerns exist associated with the large volumes (hundreds of milliliters) of organic solvent used and the extraction time (several hours), lessons learned from the development of Soxhlet in terms of treating samples through grinding and dispersing with adsorbents, as well as solvent selection, have guided the modern approaches to analytical extraction. References