Novel procedures for olive leaves extracts processing: Selective isolation of oleuropein and elenolic acid

•A novel method for the isolation of oleuropein from olive leaves has been set up.•Lamellar solids provides a mean for the preservation of oleuropein.•A novel method to obtain elenolic acid from pure oleuropein has been set up.•Characterization of elenolic acid has been achieved by GC–MS analysis. Several processes have been developed in the past to selectively extract oleuropein and its aglycones from olive derived materials. In the present manuscript, we outline a novel approach for processing olive leaves aqueous extracts. This allowed first to select microwave irradiation as the methodology able to provide a large enrichment in oleuropein. Subsequently, the use of lamellar solids led to the selective and high yield concentration of the same. Adsorption on solids also largely contributed to the long term chemical stability of oleuropein. Finally, an eco-friendly, readily available, and reusable catalyst like H2SO4 supported on silica was applied for the hydrolysis of oleuropein into hydroxytyrosol and elenolic acid. This latter was in turn selectively isolated by an acid-base work-up providing its monoaldehydic dihydropyran form (7.8 % extractive yield), that was unequivocally characterized by GC–MS. The isolation of elenolic acid in pure form is described herein for the first time.