Supercritical fluid extraction in isolation of cyclitols and sugars from chamomile flowers

The aim of the present study was to develop an optimization procedure for supercritical fluid extraction parameters, in order to obtain the highest possible yield of sugars and cyclitols from plant material. Response surface methodology based on Box-Behnken design was applied to evaluate the effect of: temperature (40, 60, 80°C), pressure (100, 200, 300 bar), and co-solvent (methanol) percentage (20, 25, 30%). As a result of the optimization process, we found that the highest amount of sugars (15.02 mg/gof dried material) and cyclitols (0.86 mg/g of dried material) was obtained when the following parameters were applied: 80°C, 228 bar, and 30% of methanol. Moreover, co-solvent concentration and temperature had a higher influence onto the obtained amounts compared with the pressure.