Supercritical Fluid Technology Research Articles

Specialised Coating Processes Finding Pharmaceutical Applicability

The manuscript aims at furnishing comprehensive information pertaining specialised coating technology/ processes. Solid dosage forms and solid particulates (SDFSP) are the major contributing group in the solid pharmaceuticals (SoPs). SDFSP exhibit peculiar physico-chemical properties and interaction behaviour which create problems/ issues during their handling, processing, storage, and use. Modifying and/or engineering surface attributes of SDFSP are advocated as powerful tool to modify their interaction behaviour and realise their worthy applications and functionalities. In this regard coating their surfaces with coating material (CM) is novel approach. Said approach involves wet and dry process for realising deposition of CM onto the surface of SDFSP substrates. Both the processes modify and/or alter innate properties of SDFSP substrates either physically or chemically. Basing on involved wet or dry process the coating method is either dry coating method (DCM) or wet coating method (WCM). Accordingly nowadays there available number of specialised devices, that bases on diverse technologies. Amongst them some involves state-of-art process/ technology like Supercell coating technology (SCT), Chemical vapour deposition (CVD), Atomic/molecular layer deposition (AMLD), Electrostatic deposition, Thermo-mechanical process, Resonant acoustic technology, Fluidised-bed process, Supercritical fluid (SCF) technology, and others. These foundational for commercially availability of specialised equipments like Magnetically Assisted Impaction Coater (MAIC), Resodyn acoustic mixer, Hybridizer®, Theta-composer®. Mechanofusion®, and others. Working and working principle, applicability, benefits, pros and limitations of specialised coating processes and technologies are herein discussed and presented. Contained information hoped to be beneficent for pharmaceutical professionals and technocrats and professionals of allied field.
 Keywords: Coating, composite product, modification, specialised, surface.

Protein Hydrolysis by Subcritical Water: A New Perspective on Obtaining Bioactive Peptides.

The importance of bioactive peptides lies in their diverse applications in the pharmaceutical and food industries. In addition, they have been projected as allies in the control and prevention of certain diseases due to their associated antioxidant, antihypertensive, or hypoglycemic activities, just to mention a few. Obtaining these peptides has been performed traditionally by fermentation processes or enzymatic hydrolysis. In recent years, the use of supercritical fluid technology, specifically subcritical water (SW), has been positioned as an efficient and sustainable alternative to obtain peptides from various protein sources. This review presents and discusses updated research reports on the use of subcritical water to obtain bioactive peptides, its hydrolysis mechanism, and the experimental designs used for the study of effects from factors involved in the hydrolysis process. The aim was to promote obtaining peptides by green technology and to clarify perspectives that still need to be explored in the use of subcritical water in protein hydrolysis.

Characteristics and Preparation of Designed Alginate-Based Composite Scaffold Membranes with Decellularized Fibrous Micro-Scaffold Structures from Porcine Skin.

Alginate-based composite scaffold membranes with various ratios of decellularized extracellular matrices could be designed and obtained from porcine skin tissue by using supercritical carbon dioxide fluid technology. Retention of decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM) and scaffold-structure integrity was observed. This work provides a simple and time-saving process for the preparation of biomedical alginate-based composite scaffold membranes with fibrous dECM micro-scaffolds, which were further characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The introduction of fibrous dECM micro-scaffolds enhanced the thermal stability and provided expected effects on the biological properties of the designed composite scaffold membranes in regenerative applications.

Supercritical fluid (SCF)-assisted fabrication of carrier-free drugs: An eco-friendly welcome to active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).

Despite the success in developing various pharmaceutical formulations, most of the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs)/drugs, according to the Biopharmaceutics Classification System (BCS), often suffer from various intrinsic limitations of solubility and permeability, substantially hindering their bioavailability in vivo. Regardless of the fact that the availability of different particle fabrication approaches (top-down and bottom-up) towards pharmaceutical manufacturing, the supercritical fluid (SCF) technology has emerged as one of the highly effective substitutes due to the environmentally benign nature and processing convenience, as well as the economically promising character of SCFs. The exceptional features of SCFs have endowed the fabrication of various APIs either solely or in combination with the compatible supramolecular species towards achieving improved drug delivery. Operating such APIs in high-pressure conditions often results in arbitrary-sized particulate forms, ranging from micron-sized to sub-micron/nano-sized particles. Comparatively, these SCF-processed particles offer enhanced tailorable physicochemical and morphological properties (size, shape, and surface), as well as improved performance efficacy (bioavailability and therapy) over the unprocessed APIs. Although the "carrier-based" delivery is practical among diverse delivery systems, the direct fabrication of APIs into suitable particulate forms, referred to as "carrier-free" delivery, has increased attention towards improving the bioavailability and conveying a high payload of the APIs. This review gives a comprehensive emphasis on the SCF-assisted fabrication of diverse APIs towards exploring their great potential in drug delivery. Initially, we discuss various challenges of drug delivery and particle fabrication approaches. Further, different supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2)-based fabrication approaches depending on the character of SCFs are explicitly described, highlighting their advantages and suitability in processing diverse APIs. Then, we provide detailed insights on various processing factors affecting the properties and morphology of SCF-processed APIs and their pharmaceutical applications, emphasizing their performance efficacy when administered through multiple routes of administration. Finally, we summarize this compilation with exciting perspectives based on the lessons learned so far and moving forward in terms of challenges and opportunities in the scale-up and clinical translation of these drugs using this innovative technology.

Recent and Relevant Methodology in the Advancement of Solid Dispersion

Most of the promising drugs in development channels are poorly water-soluble drugs which limit formulation approaches, clinical application because of their low dissolution and bioavailability. And the major current challenges of the pharmaceutical industry are apropos strategies that improve the water solubility of drugs. Solid dispersion has been considered one of the major evolutions in overcoming these issues with several successfully marketed products. Though solid dispersion has been outlined as an efficient drug delivery system, the design of specific dosage forms for pharmaceutical therapy is necessary to improve the solubility and bioavailability of poorly water-soluble drugs. Solid dispersion can be prepared by several methods such as solvent evaporation, melting, and supercritical fluid technology. This review intends to provide an updated overview of the recent trends over the past few years in solid dispersion preparation techniques and polymer used. Along with the various pharmaceutical strategies and future visions for the solubilization of poorly water-soluble drugs
 Keywords: Solid dispersion, Bioavailability, Solubility, Dissolution parameters, Polymeric carrier

Manipulation of epsilon-near-zero wavelength for the optimization of linear and nonlinear absorption by supercritical fluid

We introduce supercritical fluid (SCF) technology to epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) photonics for the first time and experimentally demonstrate the manipulation of the ENZ wavelength for the enhancement of linear and nonlinear optical absorption in ENZ indium tin oxide (ITO) nanolayer. Inspired by the SCF’s applications in repairing defects, reconnecting bonds, introducing dopants, and boosting the performance of microelectronic devices, here, this technique is used to exploit the influence of the electronic properties on optical characteristics. By reducing oxygen vacancies and electron scattering in the SCF oxidation process, the ENZ wavelength is shifted by 23.25 nm, the intrinsic loss is reduced by 20%, and the saturable absorption modulation depth is enhanced by > 30%. The proposed technique offers a time-saving low-temperature technique to optimize the linear and nonlinear absorption performance of plasmonics-based ENZ nanophotonic devices.

Biopesticide Encapsulation Using Supercritical CO2: A Comprehensive Review and Potential Applications.

As an alternative to synthetic pesticides, natural chemistries from living organisms, are not harmful to nontarget organisms and the environment, can be used as biopesticides, nontarget. However, to reduce the reactivity of active ingredients, avoid undesired reactions, protect from physical stress, and control or lower the release rate, encapsulation processes can be applied to biopesticides. In this review, the advantages and disadvantages of the most common encapsulation processes for biopesticides are discussed. The use of supercritical fluid technology (SFT), mainly carbon dioxide (CO2), to encapsulate biopesticides is highlighted, as they reduce the use of organic solvents, have simpler separation processes, and achieve high-purity particles. This review also presents challenges to be surpassed and the lack of application of SFT for biopesticides in the published literature is discussed to evaluate its potential and prospects.

Supercritical Carbon Dioxide as a Green Alternative to Achieve Drug Complexation with Cyclodextrins.

Cyclodextrins are widely used in pharmaceutics to enhance the bioavailability of many drugs. Conventional drug/cyclodextrin complexation techniques suffer from many drawbacks, such as a high residual content of toxic solvents in the formulations, the degradation of heat labile drugs and the difficulty in controlling the size and morphology of the product particles. These can be overcome by supercritical fluid technology thanks to the outstanding properties of supercritical CO2 (scCO2) such as its mild critical point, its tunable solvent power, and the absence of solvent residue after depressurization. In this work the use of scCO2 as an unconventional medium to achieve the complexation with native and substituted cyclodextrins of over 50 drugs, which belong to different classes, are reviewed. This can be achieved with different approaches such as the “supercritical solvent impregnation” and “particle-formation” techniques. The different techniques are discussed to point out how they affect the complexation mechanism and efficiency, the physical state of the drug as well as the particle size distribution and morphology, which finally condition the release kinetics and drug bioavailability. When applicable, the results obtained for the same drug with various cyclodextrins, or different complexation techniques are compared with those obtained with conventional approaches.

Preparation of bioactive aerogel material based on sodium alginate and chitosan for controlled release of levomycetin

AbstractThis work was aimed at obtaining new highly porous two‐component alginate‐chitosan aerogels for use as a controlled‐release drug delivery system. Aerogel materials were prepared on the basis of the sodium alginate–chitosan interpolymer complex using sol–gel and supercritical fluid technologies. The effect of the ratio of sodium alginate and chitosan on the textural characteristics of aerogels and their water uptake capacity was studied. The obtained materials are characterized by a developed mesoporous structure and a specific surface area of up to 260 m2g−1. It was established that 1 g of alginate‐chitosan aerogel retains up to 35 g of water. The polyelectrolyte nature of the aerogel material, shape stability, high specific surface area, developed mesoporous structure, open cylindrical pore shape, and high water absorption make the alginate/chitosan aerogel material attractive for the purposes of sorption and application therapy. The aerogels can be used as drug delivery system demonstrating prolonged levomycetin release kinetics. The content of released levomycetin from the aerogel matrix within 4 h was up to 95%.

Supercritical Fluid Technology for the Development of 3D Printed Controlled Drug Release Dosage Forms.

Supercritical CO2 loading of preformed 3D printed drug carriers with active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) shows great potential in the development of oral dosage forms for future personalized medicine. We designed 3D printed scaffold like drug carriers with varying pore sizes made from polylactic acid (PLA) using a fused deposition modelling (FDM) 3D printer. The 3D printed drug carriers were then loaded with Ibuprofen as a model drug, employing the controlled particle deposition (CPD) process from supercritical CO2. Carriers with varying pore sizes (0.027–0.125 mm) were constructed and loaded with Ibuprofen to yield drug-loaded carriers with a total amount of 0.83–2.67 mg API (0.32–1.41% w/w). Dissolution studies of the carriers show a significantly decreasing dissolution rate with decreasing pore sizes with a mean dissolution time (MDT) of 8.7 min for the largest pore size and 128.2 min for the smallest pore size. The API dissolution mechanism from the carriers was determined to be Fickian diffusion from the non-soluble, non-swelling carriers. Using 3D printing in combination with the CPD process, we were able to develop dosage forms with individually tailored controlled drug release. The dissolution rate of our dosage forms can be easily adjusted to the individual needs by modifying the pore sizes of the 3D printed carriers.

Life cycle assessment and energy intensity of CFRP recycling using supercritical N-butanol

Recycling carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) waste is unavoidable for the sustainable manufacturing and cost reduction of CFRP products. Supercritical fluid technology is an emerging chemical method for recycling CFRP waste, but its energy intensity and environmental implication are limited understanding. In this paper, the energy intensity and environmental impact of supercritical fluid technology were quantitatively assessed in CFRP recycling process. Then, the life cycle assessment (LCA) method was used to analyse the life cycle environmental impact of CFRP in two scenarios, scenario (a) using conventional waste disposal method, while scenario (b) with CFRP waste recycling process. The results show that the energy consumption of CFRP waste recycling is 49.21 MJ/kg using the supercritical n-butanol method, which is far lower than that of virgin carbon fiber production (286 MJ/kg). Scenario (b) with CFRP waste recycling has a lower impact than scenario (a) at nine environmental impact categories, including a 26% reduction of global warming potential. Besides, the energy consumption of the supercritical n-butanol method is 31% lower than that of the steam thermolysis method (71.64 MJ/kg) in recycling 1 kg of CFRP waste, which validates that the supercritical n-butanol method is a potential strategy for recycling CFRP waste.

Development and Evaluation of Cocoa Butter Taste Masked Ibuprofen Using Supercritical Carbon Dioxide.

Masking the unpleasant taste of the pharmaceutically active ingredients plays a critical role in patient acceptance, particularly for children. This work's primary objective was the preparation of taste-masked ibuprofen microparticles using cocoa butter with the assistance of supercritical fluid technology. Microparticles were prepared by dissolving ibuprofen in melted cocoa butter at 40 °C. The solution was then introduced into a supercritical fluid unit and processed at 10 MPa CO2 pressure for 30 min. The product was collected after depressurizing the system. The effect of the drug to cocoa butter ratio and the supercritical fluid units' configuration on product quality was evaluated and compared with the sample prepared by a conventional method. Physicochemical characterization of the prepared product, including particle size, crystallinity, entrapment efficiency, in vitro drug release, and product taste using a human volunteer panel was conducted. The produced microparticles were in the range of 1.42 to 15.28 μm. The entrapment efficiency of the formulated microparticles ranged from 66 to 81%. The drug:polymer ratio, the configuration of the supercritical fluid unit, and the method of preparation were found to have a critical role in the formulation of ibuprofen microparticles. Taste evaluation using human volunteers showed that microparticles containing 20% drug and processed with supercritical fluid technology were capable of masking the bitter taste of ibuprofen. In conclusion, the dispersion of ibuprofen in cocoa butter using supercritical fluid technology is a a promising innovative method to mask the bitter taste of ibuprofen.

Using Supercritical Fluid Technologies to Prepare Micro- and Nanoparticles

Using Supercritical Fluid Technologies to Prepare Micro- and Nanoparticles

Comparison between essential oils and supercritical extracts into chitosan-based edible coatings on strawberry quality during cold storage

Plant extracts are being studied in the development of novel edible food coatings. The antioxidant and antimicrobial compounds that naturally occur in some plants are the key substances that contribute to preserving food quality. Besides the plant material, the method utilized to produce the extract influences its chemical and preservative characteristics. In general, hydrodistillation produce plant products (essential oils) that are well recognized for containing high concentration of antioxidant or antimicrobial volatile compounds. Supercritical fluid technology produces high quality bioactive extracts with higher yield but lower concentration of volatile compounds, in comparison with hydrodistillation. In this work, six different natural extracts of five different plants were produced by hydrodistillation and supercritical fluid extraction, and their antioxidant and antimicrobial activities were compared. The most active extracts were used to produce chitosan-based edible coatings with the aim of assessing the effect of essential oils versus supercritical extracts on the preservation of strawberries.

The Application of Supercritical Fluids Technology to Recover Healthy Valuable Compounds from Marine and Agricultural Food Processing By-Products: A Review

Food by-products contain a remarkable source of bioactive molecules with many benefits for humans; therefore, their exploitation can be an excellent opportunity for the food sector. Moreover, the revalorization of these by-products to produce value-added compounds is considered pivotal for sustainable growth based on a circular economy. Traditional extraction technologies have several drawbacks mainly related to the consumption of hazardous organic solvents, and the high temperatures maintained for long extraction periods which cause the degradation of thermolabile compounds as well as a low extraction efficiency of desired compounds. In this context, supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) has been explored as a suitable green technology for the recovery of a broad range of bioactive compounds from different types of agri-food wastes. This review describes the working principle and development of SFE technology to valorize by-products from different origin (marine, fruit, vegetable, nuts, and other plants). In addition, the potential effects of the extracted active substances on human health were also approached.

Recovery of impregnated hydrocarbon in drill cuttings using supercritical carbon dioxide

Pollution due to waste generated by the oil industry has led to serious damage to ecosystems and the environment. Therefore, preventive and corrective actions must be taken to mitigate the ecological impact of waste resulting from oil-related activities, to explore and implement environment-friendly approaches, and achieve sustainable development.In this study, an alternative treatment for cuttings generated during the drilling of oil wells was investigated by extracting the hydrocarbons present in such cuttings through the use of carbon dioxide under supercritical conditions. The extractions were performed in a Supercritical Fluid Technologies Inc. Model SFT-150 extractor, under varying pressure (2300–6600 psi) and temperature (52–109 °C), while maintaining constant carbon dioxide flow rate and extraction time, to analyse the effect of these two thermodynamic variables on the extraction efficiency. During supercritical extraction, 21.51 g of total hydrocarbons from drill cuttings (oil/kg) were recovered at 6000 psi and 100 °C. The results indicated that pressure had the strongest effect on the extraction yield, with only a small amount of hydrocarbons recovered at the lowest pressure for all fractions. At <3000 psi pressure, increasing the temperature led to a decrease in the amount of recovered hydrocarbons; at >3000 psi pressure, increasing the temperature led to an increase in the extraction yield.

Ultrasonic-assisted supercritical-CO2 electrodeposition of Zn-Co film for high-performance corrosion inhibition: A greener approach

The ultrasonic-assisted electrodeposition process significantly improves the mechanical and electrochemical properties. Meanwhile, supercritical fluid technology also enhances the electrodeposition process with increased benefits, such as low surface tension, permeability, high diffusivity, and density, which improves the surface quality through grain refinement. In this study, Zn-Co films were prepared using the ultrasonic-assisted supercritical-CO2 (US-SC-CO2) electrodeposition approach, and its pressure effect on the film was evaluated. The films were also prepared by the conventional and typical supercritical-CO2 (SC-CO2) methods for a comparison study. All the prepared films were characterized by morphological studies, elemental composition, crystal structure orientation, and microhardness tests. Later, the fabricated films were examined by potentiodynamic polarization technique and electrochemical impedance technique (EIS) with 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution for corrosion evaluation. Based on results, Zn-Co film prepared through the US-SC-CO2 process shows a spherical nodule like structure with reduced grain size and significantly enhanced hardness property. In XRD studies, the shift in diffracted peak’s position reveals the increased proportion of Co ions. Further, EDX results also confirm the same with the characteristic peaks. Finally, compared to the other methods, the corrosion resistance was more efficient in the US-SC-CO2 process by 73.75%.

Response Surface Methodology for Optimization of Supercritical Fluid Extraction of Orange Peel Essential Oil

Background: Orange peel essential oils were obtained using supercritical fluid extraction. This method is an important high scaling extraction method used for the extraction of plant and animal extracts. Objectives: The aim of this study was the optimization of the extraction of the orange peel essential oil. Methods: The experimental parameters of Supercritical Fluid Extraction (SFE) such as temperature, pressure, and extraction time, and modifier volume were optimized using a central composite design after a 24-1 fractional factorial design. Orange peels were collected from ripe orange and were washed, air dried, and milled. Then, a Suprex MPS/225 system in the SFE mode with a maximal operating pressure of 395 bars was used for essential oil extraction. Moreover, GC-MS and GC-FID were used for the identification and determination of oil compounds, respectively. Results: Eight compounds have been identified based on their retention indices and mass spectra. According to the results, α-pinene, β-pinene, myrcene, d-limonene, terpinolene, C8-aldehyde, citronellol, and linalool were identified in orange peel essential oil. The optimum SFE conditions were obtained at a pressure of 347.07 atm, temperature of 55° C, extraction time of 30.16 min, and ethanol volume of 147.05 µL. Moreover, extraction yields based on SFE varied in the range of 0.04% to 1.18% (w/w). Conclusion: The Results showed supercritical fluid technology as the best alternative technique for the extraction of pure and high-quality essential oil from orange peel. It is a green method and does not have any environmental impact.

Research progress in the preparation of pharmaceutical formulations based on supercritical fluid technology

<p indent="0mm">Supercritical fluid is a fluid whose temperature and pressure are both higher than its critical value (<italic>P</italic>_c and <italic>T</italic>_c). At the critical point, the physical and chemical properties of the fluid are very sensitive to slight changes in temperature or pressure. At present, supercritical fluid is widely used in various fields of healthcare, from which supercritical extraction technology, supercritical fluid microparticle technology, chemical reaction in supercritical fluid and so on are derived. CO₂ is the most widely used supercritical fluid due to its low price, stable chemical properties and mild operating conditions. The critical pressure<italic> P</italic>_c of CO₂ is <sc>7.37 MPa,</sc> which has low requirements for equipment conditions. The critical temperature <italic>T</italic>_c is <sc>304.2 K,</sc> which can realize supercritical fluid operation at room temperature and save energy. This paper reviews the application of supercritical fluid technology in the preparation of pharmaceutical formulations, focusing on the problems of pharmaceutical research and clinical translation. Compared with the traditional pharmaceutical methods, the preparation of pharmaceutical formulations by supercritical fluid technology has the inherent characteristics of high biological activity, high purity, less impurities, green and safe, environmentally friendly. It is a promising new process in the pharmaceutical industry and also attracts the interest of scientific researchers. This review also summarizes the latest research achievements in the preparation of pharmaceutical nanoparticles, nano-drug carriers, nano-enzymes and super-stable pharmaceutical compounds based on supercritical fluid technology, introduces its basic principles and advantages, and looks forward to the development prospect of supercritical fluid technology in the field of nano-medicine. The main challenges in the field of pharmaceuticals are low solubility and poor stability <italic>in vivo</italic>. In order to solve these problems, supercritical technology is used to prepare nano-drugs, such as gambogic acid particles and curcumin particles, featuring improved solubility and bioavailability. Reducing drug particles to the nanoscale can increase the surface area of pure drug particles, thus increasing their solubility and bioavailability of active substances. In addition, small-scale drug delivery systems could be prepared by using supercritical fluid antisolvent method, which effectively improved the stability and solubility of active drugs and basically produced no organic solvent residue. More recently, a new superstable homogeneous iodinated formulation technology (SHIFT) was proposed and developed to improve the stability of drugs in lipiodol for lipiodol-based transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) in hepatocellular carcinoma interventional therapy. By controlling temperature and pressure to make CO₂ in a supercritical state, the lipiodol and indocyanine green (ICG) were mixed to obtain a uniformly stable medicine-iodized formulation. It was found that the lipiodol-ICG formulation had long-term fluorescence stability, improved the optical performance of ICG, and retained the embolization performance of lipiodol-ICG. With the application of SHIFT, embolization preparations and small-molecule drugs are combined to achieve better tumor treatment efficiency than single therapy. As a green, efficient and widely applicable technology platform, SHIFT is expected to combine various commonly used fluorescent drugs, chemotherapy drugs and radionuclide drugs with embolization agents, thus playing a greater application value in the future clinical anticancer treatment. In summary, supercritical fluid technology is in line with the principle of green chemistry, which overcomes the problems of toxic organic solvents and high energy in the traditional technology, and has shown great potential and advantages in the field of medicine. Despite the growing success of supercritical fluid technology, there are still some challenges in the preparation process, such as the lack of reliable experimental data and models, and the large-scale application in the pharmaceutical industry. With the increasing emphasis on personalized medicine, this green technology will continue to develop, and it is expected to achieve large-scale use from laboratory scale to industrialization in the future.

Nutraceuticals Obtained by SFE-CO2 from Cladodes of Two Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill Wild in Calabria

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the possibility to extract, by supercritical fluids, nutraceuticals as polyphenolic compounds, able in the prevention and in the treatment of a series of chronic-degenerative diseases, from plant matrices like the cactus pear. Supercritical fluid technology is an innovative method to extract nutraceuticals from natural matrices. This method offers numerous advantages that include the use of moderate temperatures, solvents with good transport properties (high diffusivity and low viscosity), and cheap and nontoxic fluids. Fresh cladodes from two different wild ecotypes of Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill. were extracted both with methanol and with SFE-CO2 using different samples preparations, to maximize the % yields and the selectivity of extraction of polyphenols. The biggest contents of phenolics, evaluated by Folin-Ciocalteu assay, has been observed with the sample dehydrated of O. ficus-indica cultivar that shows, as well, the best yield % (m/m) of extraction with both methanol and SFE-CO2. Better results were obtained with the samples of O. ficus-indica cult. (OFI cult.), in spite of the O. ficus-indica s.l. (OFI s.l.); the two different ecotypes of OFI showed dissimilar phytochemicals profile. We noticed that the reduction of both quantity and quality of polyphenols was drastic with the increase of pressure at 250 bar; this shows that high pressures result in a loss of bioactive principles, like polyphenols. By changing the variables of extraction processes with SFE-CO2 and by varying the preventive treatments of the natural matrices, it was possible to increase the selectivity and the purity of the products. Thus, the optimization of this useful and green technique allowed us to increase the value of the Opuntia cladodes, a by-product very diffused in Calabria, which is an extraordinary source of nutraceuticals. These extracts could be used directly as functional foods or as starting material in the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical or cosmetic companies; they are safe and without any solvents traces and it is possible to obtain it in a few hours respect to the conventional extraction that requires longer extraction time.