A critical comparison between traditional methods and supercritical carbon dioxide extraction for the determination of tocochromanols in cereals

Traditional methods and a supercritical CO2 (SFE) method for the extraction of tocochromanols (tocopherols and tocotrienols) from cereals were compared. The tested SFE procedure showed no significant selectivity towards the different tocochromanols but the extraction yield obtained (about 85%) can be compared with the conventional extraction techniques like Soxhlet and Folch. Like traditional methods, SFE extracts free and esterified tocochromanols and is unable to give a total recovery of tocochromanols strictly bonded to matrix components, as shown after hot saponification of the lipidic extracts and the residues of extraction. The low solvent consumption and the short analysis time are the main advantages of the method proposed here compared with the classic solvent extraction methods.