Extracts from the leaves of Piper piscatorum (Trel. Yunc.) obtained by supercritical extraction of with CO 2 , employing ethanol and methanol as co-solvents

Abstract

The efficiency of the extraction of fresh and dried leaves of Piper piscatorum was evaluated employing supercritical CO 2 and co-solvents (10% ethanol and 10% methanol) at 40 ◦ C and 70 ◦ C and a pressure of 400 bar. The extracts were characterized chemically by GC–MS and GC–FID. The major components of the extracts were piperovatine, followed by palmitic acid, pentadecane and pipercallosidine. Dry- ing of the leaves caused modifications in their composition, mainly reducing the concentration of the amides, which have activity as anesthetics. The highest yields of the piperovatine (0.93%, w/w) and pipercallosidine (0.24%, w/w) were obtained from the fresh leaves extracted with CO 2 modified with 10% ethanol at 40 ◦ C.