A novel method based on saponification coupled to micelle-extraction for recovering valuable bioactive compounds from soybean oil deodorizer distillate.

The feasibility of using saponification coupled to extraction with mixed micellar systems to recover bioactive compounds from soybean oil deodorizer distillate, was evaluated for the first time. Under the selected conditions, saponification with KOH 0.6 M and aqueous micellar system prepared with Tergitol 15-S-7 9% w/w, rhamnolipids 0.25 %w/w and sodium citrate 100 mM pH 5.00, at 65 °C, allow the recovery of almost 100% of α- and δ- tocopherols, and 90% of γ-tocopherols. LC-MS measurements demonstrated that the final extract also contained phytosterols and squalene. Additionally, the obtained extract preserved about 100% of the total antioxidant activity. This result was attributable to the fact that 93% of the tocopherols recovered in the micellar phases resulted to be associated with surfactant micelles, environment that is known to improve their antioxidant capacity. These results open perspectives to the use of this methodology to extract these valuable compounds from complex oily sources.

Essential oils in nanostructured systems: Challenges in preparation and analytical methods.

Essential oils are natural products extracted from plants that present volatile and thermolabile characteristics. Essential oils have become products of interest in many fields, including the pharmaceutical, due to their medicinal properties. In recent years, the interest in the encapsulation of essential oils in nanometric systems for therapeutic approaches has risen and a number of studies have been published. This review intended to set a panorama on the research within this field through a data survey and identify the organic nanostructured systems, the preparation techniques and analytical quantification methods employed. Many techniques used to prepare nanosystems loaded with essential oils involve heating or solvent evaporation steps that may damage their composition. In this context, the quantification of essential oil on the final nanosystems is impaired. However, in more than half of the research papers, the quantification is ignored or an indirect quantification is performed, assuming no volatilisation upon formulation processes. Analytical methods used to assess essential oil encapsulation efficiency were discussed regarding their suitability.