Effect of supercritical CO2 extraction as pretreatment to obtain C-phycocyanin from spirulina (Arthrospira maxima)

Abstract

C-phycocyanin (CPC) is a phycobiliprotein present in spirulina, which, due to its blue color, non-toxic nature, fluorescent and antioxidant properties, is of interest in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Different methods of extraction and stabilization are being investigated, including supercritical CO2 extraction, a method applied to obtain bioactive compounds from plant matrices. In this work, the effect of applying supercritical CO2 as pretreatment for the extraction of CPC at different parameters (pressure, temperature, use of cosolvent) was evaluated. Best pretreatment conditions to obtain the highest purity were at 17 MPa and 45 °C, considering it reagent grade. When comparing UV and FTIR spectra of the raffinates, a similarity was obtained with the analytical standard, with the presence of a band at 620 nm in UV and for FTIR a band at 1650 and 1540 cm−1 that corresponds to amide I and amide II, corroborating their presence and the structural characteristics.