Influence of pre-treatments on yield, chemical composition and antioxidant activity of Satureja montana extracts obtained by supercritical carbon dioxide

Abstract

©2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Main objective of this work was to investigate the influence of pre-treatments of Satureja montana herbal material on supercritical extraction process, in terms: influence on extraction yield, composition and antioxidant activity of extracts. Four different pretreatments were investigated: water pre-treatment, ethanol pre-treatment, ultrasound and high pressure pre-treatment. Extraction yields were in the range from 1.68 to 2.35 g/100 g. Pre-treatments with water and ethanol increase the yield of extraction for 25% and 17%, respectively. According to GC/MS results the main compound of obtained extracts was carvacrol. Analyses confirmed that carvacrol content in extracts can be significantly increased by application of pre-treatments. Ultrasound pre-treatment and high pressure pre-treatment yielded highest concentration of carvacrol in extracts (around 66%). Using these two pre-treatments of herbal material, concentration of carvacrol, in extracts obtained by supercritical carbon dioxide extraction, could be increased for around 25%. Antioxidant activity of all extract was very high and in the range of well-known antioxidants.