title: Effect of drying and co-matrix addition on the yield and quality of supercritical CO₂ extracted pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata Duch.) oil.
abstract: In this work a process for obtaining high vitamin E and carotenoid yields by supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO₂) extraction from pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata Duch.) is described. The results show that the use of a vacuum oven-dried [residual moisture (∼8%)] and milled (70 mesh sieve) pumpkin flesh matrix increased SC-CO₂ extraction yields of total vitamin E and carotenoids of ∼12.0- and ∼8.5-fold, respectively, with respect to the use of a freeze-dried and milled flesh matrix. The addition of milled (35 mesh) pumpkin seeds as co-matrix (1:1, w/w) allowed a further ∼1.6-fold increase in carotenoid yield, besides to a valuable enrichment of the extracted oil in vitamin E (274 mg/100 g oil) and polyunsaturated fatty acids. These findings encourage further studies in order to scale up the process for possible industrial production of high quality bioactive ingredients from pumpkin useful in functional food or cosmeceutical formulation.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Scienze delle Produzioni Alimentari - CNR, Via Prov.le Lecce-Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy.
authors.forename: Miriana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Durante
authors.forename: Marcello S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Lenucci
authors.forename: Leone
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: D'Amico
authors.forename: Gabriella
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Piro
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mita
mesh_terms: D025924:Chromatography, Supercritical Fluid / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D028464:Cucurbita / Q000737:chemistry*; D010938:Plant Oils / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D011786:Quality Control; D014810:Vitamin E / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D010938:Plant Oils; D014810:Vitamin E
keywords: Carotenoids; Cucurbita moschata (Duch.); Fatty acids; Supercritical carbon dioxide extraction; Vitamin E