To replace common organic solvents that present inherent toxicity and have high volatility and to improve the extraction efficiency, a range of natural deep eutectic solvents (NADESs) were evaluated for the extraction of phenolic compounds from Agrimonia eupatoria. Screening of NADES efficiency was carried out based on the total phenolic and flavonoid content and radical-scavenging activity, determined by spectrophotometry, as well as phenolic compounds quantified, obtained using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography with a diode array detector and a triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer. Increased extraction efficiency when compared with organic solvent was achieved using NADES mixtures choline chloride (ChCl):urea 1:2 and choline chloride:glycerol 1:1. Flavonol glycosides were the most abundant compounds in all extracts. The COSMO-RS model provided insights into the most important intermolecular interactions that drive the extraction process. Moreover, it could explain the extraction efficiency of flavonol glycosides using ChCl:glycerol NADES. The current article offers experimental evidence and mechanistic insights for the selection of optimal NADES to extract bioactive components from Agrimonia eupatoria.

The health-promoting effects of berries have attracted attention due to the possible application of their extracts as functional ingredients in food products. Natural deep eutectic solvents (NADESs) are a new generation of environmentally friendly solvents for the extraction of natural products, and they are green alternatives to organic solvents, and they can improve the solubility, stability, and bioavailability of isolated biocompounds. In this study, an efficient eco-friendly method was used for the extraction of phenolic compounds from different berries: chokeberries, blueberries, and black goji berries with a range of eutectic solvents consisting of hydrogen bond acceptors (HBAs) such as choline chloride, L-proline, L-glycine, and L-lysine and hydrogen bond donors (HBDs) such as malic, citric, tartaric, lactic and succinic acids, glucose and glycerol. The obtained results indicated the ability of NADESs towards selective extraction of phenolics; the eutectic system choline chloride : malic acid showed selective extraction of anthocyanins, while choline chloride : glycerol and choline chloride : urea showed selectivity towards flavonoids and phenolic acids. The methodology for screening of the NADES extraction performance, which included chromatographic profiling via high-performance thin layer chromatography combined with chemometrics and spectrophotometric essays, allowed effective assessment of optimal eutectic solvents for isolation of different groups of phenolics. Great antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of extracts, along with the green nature of eutectic solvents, enable NADES berry extracts to be used as “green-labelled” functional foods or ingredients.