Monitoring the oleuropein content of olive leaves and fruits using ultrasound- and salt-assisted liquid-liquid extraction optimized by response surface methodology and high-performance liquid chromatography.

A novel and rapid ultrasound- and salt-assisted liquid-liquid extraction coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography has been optimized by response surface methodology for the determination of oleuropein from olive leaves. Box-Behnken design was used for optimizing the main parameters including ultrasound time (A), pH (B), salt concentration (C), and volume of miscible organic solvent (D). In this technique, a mixture of plant sample and extraction solvent was subjected to ultrasound waves. After ultrasound-assisted extraction, phase separation was performed by the addition of salt to the liquid phase. The optimal conditions for the highest extraction yield of oleuropein were ultrasound time, 30 min; volume of organic solvent, 2.5 mL; salt concentration, 25% w/v; and sample pH, 4. Experimental data were fitted with a quadratic model. Analysis of variance results show that BC interaction, A(2) , B(2) , C(2) , and D(2) are significant model terms. Unlike the conventional extraction methods for plant extracts, no evaporation and reconstitution operations were needed in the proposed technique.