Ferulic Acid in Paper Mulberry and Its Wastewater from Pulps Production

Wastewater from paper mulberry （Broussonetia papyrifera） pulps production was subjected to biological activities evaluations and phenolics characterization. The EtOAc extract was found to be the best antioxidant （IC50 = 0.4408 mg/mL） and tyrosinase inhibitor （IC50 = 1.6340 mg/mL） comparing to vitamin C （1C50 = 0.0011 mg/mL） and kojic acid （IC50 = 0.0244 mg/mL）, respectively, and the highest ferulic acid content （4.450 ±0.0077 ppm）. This fraction was further column chromatographed and antioxidant activity was archived （IC50 = 0.075 mg/mL） as well as tyrosinase inhibitory effect （IC50 = 0.042 mg/mL） in addition to ferulic acid （45.310 ± 0.0115 ppm）. Ferulic acid in paper mulberry was compared. Reflux with H2O gave the highest ferulic acid content （37.848 ± 1.2470 ppm） followed by a mixture of MeOH and H2O （2.002 ± 0.0370 ppm） and MeOH （1.185 ± 0.0320 ppm）, respectively. The reflux H2O was partitioned with EtOAc that extracted most of ferulic acid （256.678 ± 0.3760 ppm） and left less in the aqueous layer （9.408 ± 0.2820 ppm）.