Supercritical fluid extraction of catechins from Cratoxylum prunifolium Dyer and subsequent purification by high-speed counter-current chromatography

Supercritical fluid extraction of tea catechins including epigallocatechin-3-O-gallate (EGCG) and epicatechin-3-O-gallate (ECG) from Cratoxylum prunifolium Dyer was performed. The optimization of parameters was carried out using an analytical-scale supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) system designed in our laboratory. Then the extraction was scaled up by 100 times using a preparative SFE system under a set of optimized conditions of 40°C, 25 MPa and modified CO2 with 80% ethanol aqueous solution. The combined yield of EGCG and ECG reached about 1 mg per 1 g of tea leaves where the solubility was near 1.4×10−4 mass fraction of CO2 fluid. EGCG and ECG of high purity (>98%) were obtained from the crude preparative extract by high-speed counter-current chromatography.