Supercritical fluid technologies offer a propitious method for drug discovery from natural sources. Such methods require relatively short processing times, produce extracts with little or no organic co-solvent, and are able to extract bioactive molecules whilst minimising degradation. Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) provides a range of benefits, as well as offering routes to overcome some ...

A cobalt catalyst (25%Co/γ-Al2O3, prepared by slurry phase impregnation) was used in a fixed bed reactor under a pressure/density tuned supercritical fluid mixture of n-pentane/nhexane. By using an inert gas as a balancing gas to maintain a constant pressure, the density of the supercritical fluid could be tuned near the supercritical point while maintaining constant space velocity within the r...

Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) of the volatile oil from Thymus vulgaris L. aerial flowering parts was performed under different conditions of pressure, temperature, mean particle size and CO(2) flow rate and the correspondent yield and composition were compared with those of the essential oil isolated by hydrodistillation (HD). Both the oils were analyzed by GC and GC-MS and 52 components...

A multiresidue analysis of pesticides in tea using supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) and GC-MS was developed. The preprocessing using SFE shortened the total analysis time. The SFE extract contained less matrices than the extract obtained with organic solvents. However, these matrices disturbed instrumental analysis. So, the extract was cleaned up with ENVI™-Carb/NH2 and InertSep™ SI cartrid...

Previous studies using lipid extracts of heather (Calluna vulgaris) leaves showed the presence of high concentrations of ursolic and oleanolic acid. These two compounds have been reported to present antiviral activity against hepatitis C virus (HCV). In this work, the supercritical fluid extraction of heather was studied with the aim of assessing a potential anti-HCV activity of the extracts ow...