Triterpenic acids (TTAs), known for their promising biological properties, can be found in\ndifferent biomass sources and related by-products, such as Eucalyptus globulus bark, and have been\nextracted using organic volatile solvents such as dichloromethane. Recently, deep eutectic solvents\n(DES) have been identified as promising alternatives for the extraction of value-added compounds\nfrom biomass. In the present work, several hydrophobic DES were tested for the extraction of TTAs\nfrom E. globulus bark. Initial solubility studies revealed that DES based on menthol and thymol as the\nmost promising solvents for these compounds given the highest solubilities obtained for ursolic acid\n(UA) at temperatures ranging from room temperature up to 90 DegreeC. Accordingly, an eutectic mixture\nof menthol:thymol (1:2) was confirmed as the best candidate for the TTAs extraction from E. globulus\nouter bark, leading to extraction yields (weight of TTA per weight of biomass) at room temperature of\n1.8 wt% for ursolic acid, 0.84 wt% for oleanolic acid and 0.30 wt% for betulinic acid. These values are\nsignificantly higher than those obtained with conventional organic solvents under similar conditions.\nThe results obtained using these DES are promising for the recovery of TTAs for nutraceutical and\npharmacological applications, while reinforcing the potential of DES as promising solvents to be\napplied in biorefinery processes.
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