This work reports experimental data of the solubility of beta-carotene in pure acetone, ethyl acetate, ethanol and dichloromethane and in mixtures of these organic solvents in the temperature range of 10 to 60 °C under ambient pressure. The gravimetric method was employed to determine the solubility, using glass equilibrium cells. The results showed that the best solvents were those having solubility parameter values close to that of the solute. It was found that raising the temperature caused the solute solubility values for both pure and solvent mixtures to increase under all the experimental conditions. Moreover, no synergetic effects were observed on the solubility of beta-carotene in solvent mixtures compared to pure solvents in the temperature range investigated. The UNIFAC model proved to be useful in predicting the solubility data.
beta-carotene; solubility; organic solvents; UNIFAC
