title: Experimental design in supercritical fluid extraction of cocaine from coca leaves.
abstract: An optimisation procedure for the supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) of cocaine from the leaves of Erythroxylum coca var. coca was investigated by means of experimental design. After preliminary experiments where the SFE rate-controlling mechanism was determined, a central composite design was applied to evaluate interactions between selected SFE factors such as pressure, temperature, nature and percentage of the polar modifier, as well as to optimise these factors. Predicted and experimental contents of cocaine were compared and robustness of the extraction method estimated by drawing response surfaces. The analysis of cocaine in crude extracts was carried out by capillary GC equipped with a flame ionisation detector (GC-FID), as well as by capillary GC coupled with a mass spectrometer (GC-MS) for peak identification.
authors.affiliation: University of Geneva, Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Analytical Chemistry, 20 bd. d'Yvoy, CH-1211, 4, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brachet
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Christen
authors.forename: J Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Gauvrit
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Longeray
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lantéri
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Veuthey
mesh_terms: D002099:Cacao / Q000737:chemistry*; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry; D002845:Chromatography / Q000379:methods*; D002849:Chromatography, Gas / Q000379:methods; D003042:Cocaine / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D007700:Kinetics; D015233:Models, Statistical; D011312:Pressure; D012984:Software; D013696:Temperature; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D003042:Cocaine