Functional ingredient from avocado peel: Microwave-assisted extraction, characterization and potential applications for the food industry

•A “green” methodology was optimized for the extraction of bioactive compounds.•Temperature, time, ethanol concentration and solvent-sample ratio were optimized.•53 compounds were identified under the optimal microwave assisted extraction conditions.•Procyanidin and catechin were the most abundant phenolic compounds.•The extracts showed high matrix metalloproteinases inhibitory and antioxidant capacities. Avocado peel is a by-product obtained in high amounts in the food industry with no further applications despite its richness in bioactive compounds. In this context, an efficient “green” microwave assisted extraction (MAE) was optimized to maximize the extraction of bioactive polyphenols. Moreover, the phenolic composition of the developed green avocado extract was characterized by HPLC coupled to MS analysers and the potential applications for the food industry were studied assaying different bioactivities. Thus, the matrix metalloproteinases inhibition, the antioxidant capacity and the antimicrobial activity against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, yeast and mold were tested. The results pointed out both, high matrix metalloproteinases inhibitory capacity and antioxidant activity of avocado peel MAE extract. These findings suggest the potential food industry applications of this extract as natural food preservative, functional food ingredient or nutraceuticals with antioxidant and anti-aging activities.