An effective and economical process was established to produce hydroxytyrosol, a naturally occurring orthodiphenolic antioxidant molecule found in olive oil from its monophenolic precursor tyrosol. The approach proposed in the present work presents an environment-friendly method based on wet hydrogen peroxide catalytic oxidation with montmorillonite KSF as an inexpensive and environmentally benign solid acid at room temperature. The influence of the principal operating parameters including concentration of tyrosol, H2O2, and catalyst used were studied. The antioxidant activity was realized by the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) method. High antioxidant activity was detected according to the high hydroxytyrosol production (IC50 = 0.7 μg mL-1). The bactericidal and fungicidal properties of hydroxytyrosol rich extract were investigated using the NCCLS broth dilution and EN 1276 standard methods. Positive bactericidal and fungicidal effects of concentrations ranging between 1-0.5 g L-1 and 4-2 g L-1 were obtained.
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