Extracts from the leaves of Piper piscatorum (Trel. Yunc.) obtained by supercritical extraction of with CO2, employing ethanol and methanol as co-solvents

Abstract The efficiency of the extraction of fresh and dried leaves of Piper piscatorum was evaluated employing supercritical CO 2 and co-solvents (10% ethanol and 10% methanol) at 40 °C and 70 °C and a pressure of 400 bar. The extracts were characterized chemically by GC–MS and GC–FID. The major components of the extracts were piperovatine, followed by palmitic acid, pentadecane and pipercallosidine. Drying of the leaves caused modifications in their composition, mainly reducing the concentration of the amides, which have activity as anesthetics. The highest yields of the piperovatine (0.93%, w/w) and pipercallosidine (0.24%, w/w) were obtained from the fresh leaves extracted with CO 2 modified with 10% ethanol at 40 °C.