The simultaneous extraction and separation of hydrophobic and hydrophilic phytochemicals from Eucommia ulmoides seeds with green solvent CPME system

This work, an efficient method for simultaneous extraction and separation of different polarity phytochemicals from E. ulmoides seeds was developed with green solvent cyclopentyl methyl ether (CPME) system. Firstly, the green solvent CPME with optimal solubility for E. ulmoides seeds oil (EUO) was fast screened by Hansen solubility parameters (HSPs). Under optimum conditions: liquid–solid ratio of 20:1, ultrasound time of 60 min and ultrasound power of 60 W, 28.6% EUO and 6.4% aucubin (AU) were extracted by cyclopentyl methyl ether-ethyl alcohol (CPME-EtOH) system, which were 1.10- and 1.19-fold higher than that of traditional extraction. Meantime, the fatty acid composition and in vitro biological activity of EUO shown it had 86.99% unsaturated fatty acids and excellent antioxidant activity, non-cytotoxicity and lipid-lowering activity. Moreover, EUO had good physicochemical properties and met the standard of edible oil, which indicated EUO is a good oil source for medicine and food. Besides, the CPME that has been recycled six runs can still extract 25.6% EUO. In short, this study gave some guidance for simultaneous extraction and separation of hydrophobic oil and hydrophilic bioactive compounds from plant resources using green solvent instead of petrochemical solvents in food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and other fields. Graphical abstract