Effect of supercritical CO2 extraction as pretreatment to obtain C-phycocyanin from spirulina (Arthrospira maxima)

Abstract

C-phycocyanin (CPC) is a phycobiliprotein present in spirulina, which, due to its blue color, non-toxic nature, fluorescent and antioxidant properties, is of interest in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Different methods of extraction and stabilization are being investigated, including supercritical CO₂ extraction, a method applied to obtain bioactive compounds from plant matrices. In this work, the effect of applying supercritical CO₂ as pretreatment for the extraction of CPC at different parameters (pressure, temperature, use of cosolvent) was evaluated. Best pretreatment conditions to obtain the highest purity were at 17 MPa and 45 °C, considering it reagent grade. When comparing UV and FTIR spectra of the raffinates, a similarity was obtained with the analytical standard, with the presence of a band at 620 nm in UV and for FTIR a band at 1650 and 1540 cm⁻¹ that corresponds to amide I and amide II, corroborating their presence and the structural characteristics.