Supercritical antisolvent fractionation of ryanodol from Persea indica

The objective of this study is the extraction and concentration of ryanodol, an insecticidal compound contained in a Canarian endemic plant, Persea indica, using supercritical fluid antisolvent fractionation (SAF). The pesticide has been first extracted from P. indica using ethanol; then, the ethanolic solution has been concentrated using the SAF technique, in which supercritical CO2 is used to precipitate selected, non soluble compounds. The quantification of ryanodol in the different extracts was accomplished using HPLC–MS. Operating at 15.0 MPa and 35 °C (flow rates of 2.38 kg/h for CO2 and of 5.7 mL/min for the ethanol solution) a fraction with a ryanodol content of 37.7% w/w is obtained, starting from the liquid extract containing only 7.5% w/w of this compound.

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► Supercritical antisolvent fractionation of Persea indica optimized.
► HPLC–MS quantification of ryanodol.
► Influence of density, mole fraction of CO2, separator design on ryanodol enrichment.
► Yields and composition of all the extracts evaluated.
► Concentration of the active principle from 7.5 to 37.7% after supercritical process.