Egyptian Opuntia ficus-indica (OFI) Residues: Recovery and Characterization of Fresh Mucilage from Cladodes

The utilization of biopolymers gained recent attention worldwide due to their effective role in producing eco-friendly and economical products. Mucilage from Opuntia ficus-indica (OFI, other succulent plants) has the capacity absorb huge amounts water, forming a viscous colloid with interesting rheological properties. It also had potential ability for use as food additives or technological We, therefore, aimed at extracting characterizing pure liquid mucilage cladodes OFI (Egyptian variety) using multidimensional approaches including HPLC-RID, FTIR, XRD, NMR, DSC, TGA assays. chemical composition, total polyphenols, flavonoids, flavonols, antioxidant by DPPH ABTS assays were measured. HPLC-RID analysis showed that mucilage’s sugars are composed glucose, xylose, rhamnose, galacturonic acid, arabinose, galactose, fucose 0.375 mg/mL, which subsequently confirmed FTIR NMR results. specific signals these observed 13C 1H spectra fingerprint was obtained FTIR. XRD patterns high calcium content, glass transition temperature 85.9 °C. Meanwhile, phenolic flavonols about 7.96 mg GAE/g FW, 3.61 QE/g 1.47 respectively. around 26.15 22.5 µmol TE/g FW methods, can be concluded cladode promising properties would improve open new opportunities trends food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, industries. could economically profitable its low cost, availability, effectiveness many edible applications.