Supercritical extraction of fat from phospholipid biomembrane structures

The objective of our work was to examine the supercritical-fluid extraction of fat from model biomembrane structures. Data are reported for supercritical carbon dioxide extraction of crude phosphatidylethanolamine, mixed phosphatidylethanolamine + tripalmitin, and phosphatidylethanolamine + tripalmitin model biomembrane structures at 313 K and 15.2 MPa. Extraction of the tripalmitin. from the structures was inhibited for the case of high phospholipid/tripalmitin ratios. No inhibition was observed for the case of low phospholipid/tripalmitin ratios. Extraction of tripalmitin from phospholipid/tripalmitin mixtures, not structures, was comparable to extractions of pure tripalmitin. Our experimental results indicate that pure fat solubility in supercritical carbon dioxide is insufficient for describing the limiting fat extraction from model biomembranes.