Abstract

Butterfly pea flower (Clitoria ternatea L.) has a high content of natural antioxidants such as flavonoids and anthocyanins. However, the therapeutic potential of this plant is often hampered by the preparation method, which cannot produce a high content of bioactive compounds. This study aims to compare the efficiency of aqueous ultrasonic-assisted extraction (UAE) with a crude powder preparation. The dried flowers were processed into two forms, namely a crude powder and an aqueous extract. Extraction was carried out using UAE at 40 kHz and a temperature of 50℃ for 150 minutes. Total anthocyanin and flavonoid were quantified using spectrophotometry. Statistical analysis revealed that the extract significantly higher bioactive concentration compared to the crude powder. The UAE method increased the yield significantly by about 90% for anthocyanins and flavonoids by about 23% compared to the crude powder. This study concluded that the UAE extraction method offers a safer, standardized, highly efficient approach for developing C. ternatea for herbal medicine.

Key words: Anthocyanin, Clitoria ternatea, Flavonoid, UAE approach