SELECTIVE EXTRACTION OF PHOSPHOLIPID MIXTURES BY SUPERCRITICAL CARBON-DIOXIDE AND COSOLVENTS

To optimize and enhance the value of a previously developed supercriti cal fluids (SF) process for removing oil from soybean flakes, we devis ed a two-step, sequential scheme for extraction of oil and phospholipi d-containing fractions using SC-CO2 alone or with ethanol. PLs were se lectively removed from the flakes using the SC-CO2/ethanol mixture. Ph osphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) were more rea dily solubilized in the SC-CO2/cosolvent mixtures than were phosphatid ylinositol and phosphatidic acid. The extent of recovery of PC and PE was a function of the molar fraction of cosolvent. Some fractionation of constituent phospholipids could be achieved by varying the molar fr action of ethanol. The extracts from the SF process were characterized by inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy (ICP) and HPLC with evapor ative light scattering detection.