Liquid chromatographic–mass spectrometric analysis of supercritical-fluid extracts of rosemary plants

A two-step supercritical fluid extraction process of rosemary leaves, on a pilot plant scale, is proposed to divide the oleoresin into two fractions with different antioxidant activities and essential oil composition. Rosemary leaves were extracted by using different conditions of pressure and temperature as well as different conditions for fractionation of the extracts. Conditions can be tuned to selectively extract one antioxidant fraction with almost no residual aroma. In the present investigation, the antioxidant fraction was exhaustively studied in terms of antioxidant activity measurements as well as of chemical composition. An LC–MS method was adapted to perform the analysis and identification of the compounds responsible for the antioxidant activity of the extracts. Different extraction and fractionation conditions were studied in order to correlate the process conditions with the antioxidant activities obtained.