Determination of Parameters for the Supercritical Extraction of Antioxidant Compounds from Green Propolis Using Carbon Dioxide and Ethanol as Co-Solvent

PLoS One. 2015 Aug 7;10(8):e0134489. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0134489. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the best processing conditions to extract Brazilian green propolis using a supercritical extraction technology. For this purpose, the influence of different parameters was evaluated such as S/F (solvent mass in relation to solute mass), percentage of co-solvent (1 and 2% ethanol), temperature (40 and 50°C) and pressure (250, 350 and 400 bar) using supercritical carbon dioxide. The Global Yield Isotherms (GYIs) were obtained through the evaluation of the yield, and the chemical composition of the extracts was also obtained in relation to the total phenolic compounds, flavonoids, antioxidant activity and 3,5-diprenyl-4-hydroxicinnamic acid (Artepillin C) and acid 4-hydroxycinnamic (p-coumaric acid). The best results were identified at 50°C, 350 bar, 1% ethanol (co-solvent) and S/F of 110. These conditions, a content of 8.93±0.01 and 0.40±0.05 g/100 g of Artepillin C and p-coumaric acid, respectively, were identified indicating the efficiency of the extraction process. Despite of low yield of the process, the extracts obtained had high contents of relevant compounds, proving the viability of the process to obtain green propolis extracts with important biological applications due to the extracts composition.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Antioxidants / isolation & purification*
  • Carbon Dioxide / chemistry*
  • Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
  • Chromatography, Supercritical Fluid / methods*
  • Coumaric Acids / chemistry
  • Ethanol / chemistry*
  • Flavonoids / analysis
  • Inhibitory Concentration 50
  • Kinetics
  • Microscopy, Electron, Scanning
  • Phenols / analysis
  • Phenylpropionates / chemistry
  • Propionates
  • Propolis / chemistry*
  • Reference Standards
  • Solvents / chemistry*
  • Temperature

Substances

  • Antioxidants
  • Coumaric Acids
  • Flavonoids
  • Phenols
  • Phenylpropionates
  • Propionates
  • Solvents
  • Carbon Dioxide
  • Ethanol
  • artepillin C
  • Propolis
  • p-coumaric acid

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) for the research scholarships. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.