PLE in the analysis of plant compounds

Pressurised liquid extraction (PLE) is recognised as one of the most effective sample preparation methods. Despite the enhanced extraction power of PLE, the full recovery of an analyte from plant material may require multiple extractions of the same sample. The presented investigations show the possibility of estimating the true concentration value of an analyte in plant material employing one-cycle PLE in which plant samples of different weight are used. The performed experiments show a linear dependence between the reciprocal value of the analyte amount (E*), extracted in single-step PLE from a plant matrix, and the ratio of plant material mass to extrahent volume (mp/Vs). Hence, time-consuming multi-step PLE can be replaced by a few single-step PLEs performed at different (mp/Vs) ratios. The concentrations of rutin in Sambucus nigra L. and caffeine in tea and coffee estimated by means of the tested procedure are almost the same as their concentrations estimated by multiple PLE.