Supercritical fluid chromatographic analysis for on-line monitoring of hexane removal from soybean oil miscella using liquid carbon dioxide

Liposomes Loaded with Unsaponifiable Matter from Amaranthus hypochondriacus as a Source of Squalene and Carrying Soybean Lunasin Inhibited Melanoma Cells

Amaranthus hypochondriacus is a source of molecules with reported health benefits such as antioxidant activity and cancer prevention. The objective of this research was to optimize the conditions for preparing a liposome formulation using amaranth unsaponifiable matter as a source of squalene in order to minimize the particle size and to maximize the encapsulation efficiency of liposomes for carrying and delivering soybean lunasin into melanoma cell lines. Amaranth oil was extracted using supercritical dioxide carbon extraction (55.2 MPa pressure, 80 °C temperature, solvent (CO₂)-to-feed (oil) ratio of 20). The extracted oil from amaranth was used to obtain the unsaponifiable enriched content of squalene, which was incorporated into liposomes. A Box–Behnken response surface methodology design was used to optimize the liposome formulation containing the unsaponifiable matter, once liposomes were optimized. Soybean lunasin was loaded into the liposomes and tested on A-375 and B16-F10 melanoma cells. The squalene concentration in the extracted oil was 36.64 ± 0.64 g/ 100 g of oil. The particle size in liposomes was between 115.8 and 163.1 nm; the squalene encapsulation efficiency ranged from 33.14% to 76.08%. The optimized liposome formulation contained 15.27 mg of phospholipids and 1.1 mg of unsaponifiable matter. Cell viability was affected by the liposome formulation with a half-maximum inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) equivalent to 225 μM in B16-F10 and 215 μM in A-375. The liposomes formulated with lunasin achieved 82.14 ± 3.34% lunasin encapsulation efficiency and improved efficacy by decreasing lunasin IC₅₀ by 31.81% in B16-F10 and by 41.89% in A-375 compared with unencapsulated lunasin.

Enhanced selective extraction of hexane from hexane/soybean oil mixture using binary gas mixtures of carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide (CO2) can effectively separate hexane from a mixture of soybean oil (SBO) and hexane with a slight coextraction of SBO. Previous research demonstrated that CO2 entrained with helium significantly reduced SBO solubility in CO2. In this study, CO2 was mixed with three gases (He, N2, or Ar) (0.5-30 vol %) to decrease SBO solubility while attempting to maintain hexane solubility. The binary gas mixtures (at 25 degrees C and 9.31 MPa) were passed through a 25 wt % hexane/SBO mixture inside a 2.5 m fractionation column. Coextracted SBO was inversely proportional to binary gas concentration, whereas residual hexane in the raffinate was proportional to binary gas concentration. The 10% binary mixture of N2 or Ar was the best compromise to obtain both low residual hexane levels (i.e., 26 ppm) and low SBO coextraction (i.e., only 40 mg). This carry-over of SBO represents a 95% reduction in SBO carry-over compared to neat CO2.