Journal of Pain & Relief
Open Access

Research Article

Extraction and Comparative Analysis of Moisture and Capsaicin Contents of Capsicum Peppers

Ekwere¹, Mercy R^2*, Udoh² and David E¹

¹Department of Chemistry, School of Sciences, Cross River State College of Education, Akamkpa, Nigeria

²Department of Biology, School of Sciences, Cross River State College of Education, Akamkpa, Nigeria

Corresponding Author:

Mercy R
Department of Biology, School of Sciences
Cross River State College of Education, Akamkpa, Nigeria
E-mail: tomercyudoh@yahoo.co.uk

Received Date: June 20, 2016; Accepted Date: September 22, 2016; Published Date: September 26, 2016

Citation: Ekwere, Mercy R, Udoh, David E (2016) Extraction and Comparative Analysis of Moisture and Capsaicin Contents of Capsicum Peppers. J Pain Relief 5:268. doi:10.4172/2167-0846.1000268

Copyright: © 2016 Ekwere et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Capsaicin and moisture contents of three varieties of Capsicum peppers [Capsicum frutescens- Bird eye pepper (X1) and two varieties of Capsicum annum: Chilli pepper (X2) and sweet pepper (X3)] were determined and the level of pungency related to reported observed effects on human-beings especially, as a topical analgesic. Extraction was carried out using modified method described by Kosuge et al (1958). Fractions obtained were identified as capsaicin by direct comparison with authentic samples and their ir with literature data. Every 50 g of Capsicum pepper gave mean capsaicin extracts as 0.206 ± 0.02 g (X1) and 0.066 ± 0.01 g (X2); X3, was in trace amount (<0.001 ± 0.00 g). Values suggest species-specific relationship in capsaicin content and composition. The Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (r) between the moisture and capsaicin contents showed moderate negative correlation. The relationship was not statistically significant (p>0.05). Moisture contents was higher in two varieties- X2 (66.97 ± 0.05%) and X1 (51.57 ± 0.03%); X3 had the lowest moisture content of 43.19 ± 0.01% suggesting that moisture content and not size affects the level of pungency contrary to popular believe that the bigger pepper are, the hotter. Bird-eye and chilli peppers, with high capsaicin content, would have medicinal values as topical analgesic.

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