Supercritical CO2 extraction, chemical characterisation and antioxidant potential of Brassica oleracea var capitata against HO•, O2•- and ROO•

In this work were extracted bioactive compounds from Brassica oleracea var capitata using supercritical CO2 and evaluated the antioxidant potential of the extracts. Five extractions were accomplished to investigate the influence of pressure (10-25 MPa) and temperature (20-60 degrees C) in the extraction yield, chemical composition and antioxidant potential towards peroxyl, superoxide and hydroxyl radicals. The highest extraction yield was obtained at 60 degrees C and 25 MPa, which was 0.47 wt% (run 2). In the characterisation of the extracts obtained was possible the identification of sulforaphane and iberin nitrile that present known biological properties. The extracts of all runs presented antioxidant activities towards the three radicals, but the highest activities for all radicals were using the extracts obtained in the run 2. The use of supercritical CO2 extraction to obtain bioactive compounds of B. oleracea var capitata showed to be a promising alternative to conventional extraction methods, since allowed the extraction of compounds with scientific and industrial interest. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.