A new process for extracting bioactives from plant leaves Anniversary Artemisia It was developed in the laboratories of the Faculty of Food Engineering (FEA) at the State University of Campinas. The method, which saves water and works with CO2 reused from industry, allows three bioactives to be extracted from the same amount of raw material. From two of them, S Cosméticos do Bem, a daughter company of Unicamp, which participated in the invention process and licensed the patent, developed three sustainable dermophytocosmetic products: a repellent lotion that reduces dermatological impacts such as allergies and dermatitis; a rejuvenating facial serum with healing potential and an anti-acne serum that reduces lesions and has the potential to reduce scars. Furthermore, products with anti-coronavirus potential are in the testing phase.
Traditional plant in Chinese medicine, Anniversary Artemisia has pharmaceutical and cosmetic properties. In 2015, Chinese scientist Youyou Tu won the Nobel Prize for Medicine for having managed to isolate artemisinin, the main non-volatile active component of artemisia, used in medicines to treat malaria. In the products developed by the sustainable dermophytocosmetics company, essential oils, volatile and non-volatile components of artemisia are used.
The innovative process, developed under the guidance of professor Maria Angela de Almeida Meireles Petenate, from FEA, applies supercritical technology, which does not use polluting solvents. “The method allows the three bioactives to be extracted in different stages of the same process, with variations in temperature and pressure, using the same mass of dried and crushed artemisia leaves”, explains the teacher.
During the entire procedure, only water and CO2 are used – the latter, obtained from capture units, already reused from industrial processes (such as, for example, the sugar and alcohol industry). Furthermore, during all extraction stages, it is estimated that CO2 emissions are 2%, a number considered low.
Furthermore, highlights Maria Angela, another differential of the technology developed at Unicamp is that, after extracting the compounds, it is still possible to use the mugwort residue to remove the famous artemisinin, which can be used in future antimalarial and antiviral dermophytocosmetic products. “In the past, when talking about natural products, a raw material was used for each product. Today it is no longer like that and that is what we implemented here: we adopted the economic engineering of the process, which combines the technical and economic aspects to use the raw material as much as possible. If we continue studying, we will be able to obtain other products from this waste”, assesses the professor. Inova, Unicamp's Innovation Agency, applied for a patent for the technology and handled licensing with the company.
Read article in full published on the Unicamp Innovation Agency website.
