Effect of Pre-Treatment Methods on the Extractability of Christia vespertilionis by Supercritical Carbon Dioxide

• Published in: Pertanika Journal of Science and Technology
• Main Author: Abd Hamid I.A.; Laazizi N.; Mustapa A.N.; Abd Rahman N.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Putra Malaysia Press 2023
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85167359712&doi=10.47836%2fpjst.31.5.13&partnerID=40&md5=6a3a6764aa79c870834af6f1ac433666

Christia vespertilionis is a medicinal herb traditionally used as a complementary and alternative medicine to treat cancer and malaria. This study investigated the effect of pre-treatments of the Christia vespertilionis plant on supercritical CO2 extraction yield and solubility. Four pre-treatments were studied: drying and grinding, doping with absolute ethanol (99%) and 80% (v/v) of ethanol/water, and microwave pre-treatment. The supercritical CO2 extraction was conducted at a constant 13.8 MPa, 40℃ with 24 mL/min flow rate in 40 min of extraction time. It was found that the dried sample after drying and grinding pre-treatment produced the highest yield of 4.56 mg/g, whereas the lowest yield was obtained for the fresh leaves’ samples treated with microwave irradiation (1.26 mg/g). Doping techniques with absolute ethanol and 80% (v/v) were comparable in the 2.64 to 2.94 mg/g. GCMS results revealed that Christia vespertilionis extract comprises antioxidants, mainly phytol, limonene, and other medicinal compounds such as α-monolaurin and l-ascorbyl 2,6-dipalmitate. This study indicates that adding co-solvent was not the primary technique in supercritical CO2 extraction to increase the extractability of compounds of interest from plant matrices. © Universiti Putra Malaysia Press.