Bioactive compounds with added value prepared from terpenes contained in solid wastes from the olive oil industry.

Starting from solid wastes from two-phase olive-oil extraction, the pentacyclic triterpenes oleanolic acid and maslinic acid were isolated. These natural compounds were transformed into methyl olean-12-en-28-oate (5), which then was transformed into several seco-C-ring triterpene compounds by chemical and photolytic modifications. The triene seco-products were fragmented through several oxidative procedures to produce, simultaneously, cis- and trans-decalin derivatives, both potential synthons for bioactive compounds. The chemical behavior of the isolated fragments was investigated, and a suitable approach to several low-molecular-weight terpenes was performed. These are interesting processes for the value-addition to solid waste from the olive-oil industry.