Thermal extraction method and product
View Patent ↗The present invention is related to a thermal extract of a plant material and methods of extraction thereof. The method of producing a thermal extract from a plant starting material by means of a thermal extraction of the starting material wherein the improvement consists in requiring smaller amounts of costly and/or toxic organic solvents for the extraction and partitioning steps.
1. A thermal extraction method, comprising:
i) preparing a diterpenoid-containing biomass starting material comprising a species of the genus Taxus or Austrotaxus , wherein the biomass is reduced in size to an average diameter of less than about 2 cm in its smallest dimension;
ii) introducing the reduced size biomass starting material into a thermal extraction system comprising a contained vessel, a heat source, and at least one recovery unit;
iii) heating the reduced size biomass starting material in the thermal extraction system to a temperature of from about 250° C. to about 650° C. for a residence time of less than about 30 seconds; and
iv) collecting a condensed thermal extract comprising:
a) paclitaxel; and
b) 13-acetyl-9-dihydrobaccatin III, said 13-acetyl-9-dihydrobaccatin III present in an amount that is approximately 10 times greater than the amount of paclitaxel,
wherein the thermal extraction method is exclusive of a solvent extraction.
2. The thermal extraction method of claim 1 , wherein said heating is sufficient to extract non-degraded 13-acetyl-9-dihydrobaccatin III.
3. The thermal extraction method of claim 1 , wherein the 13-acetyl-9-dihydrobaccatin III is concentrated 10-fold or more in the thermal extract relative to the starting biomass material.
4. The thermal extraction method of claim 1 , wherein said heating is sufficient to extract non-degraded paclitaxel.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein said heating is to a temperature of from about 300° C. to about 550° C. for a residence time of less than about 2 seconds.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one recovery unit comprises a device to collect the condensed thermal extract, and wherein the device is selected from the group consisting of a condenser, a demister, a fiber bed filter, and combinations thereof.
7. The thermal extraction method of claim 1 , wherein collecting the thermal extract comprises collecting a condensed vapor fraction and a liquid fraction.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: treating the thermal extract with a partitioning solvent to selectively remove one or more taxanes.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the thermal extract further comprises: 7-epi-taxol, said 7-epi-taxol present in an amount that is approximately 10 times greater than the amount of paclitaxel.
10. A thermal extraction method, comprising:
i) preparing a diterpenoid-containing biomass starting material comprising a species of the genus Taxus or Austrotaxus , wherein the biomass is reduced in size to an average diameter of less than about 2 cm in its smallest dimension;
ii) introducing the reduced size biomass starting material into a thermal extraction system comprising a contained vessel, a heat source, and at least one recovery unit;
iii) heating the reduced size biomass starting material in the thermal extraction system to a temperature of from about 250° C. to about 650° C. for a residence time of less than about 30 seconds; and
iv) collecting a thermal extract comprising:
a) paclitaxel; and
b) 7-epi-taxol, said 7-epi-taxol present in an amount that is approximately 10 times greater than the amount of paclitaxel,
wherein the thermal extraction method is exclusive of a solvent extraction.
11. The thermal extraction method of claim 10 , wherein said heating is sufficient to extract non-degraded 7-epi-taxol.
12. The thermal extraction method of claim 10 , wherein the 7-epi-taxol is concentrated 10-fold or more in the thermal extract relative to the starting biomass material.
13. The thermal extraction method of claim 10 , wherein said heating is sufficient to extract non-degraded paclitaxel.
14. The method of claim 10 , wherein said heating is to a temperature of from about 300° C. to about 550° C. for a residence time of less than about 2 seconds.
15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the at least one recovery unit comprises a device to collect a liquid fraction from the vapor fraction, and wherein the device is selected from the group consisting of a condenser, a demister, a fiber bed filter, and combinations thereof.
16. The thermal extraction method of claim 10 , wherein collecting the thermal extract comprises collecting a condensed vapor fraction and a liquid fraction.
17. The method of claim 10 , further comprising: treating the thermal extract with a partitioning solvent to selectively remove one or more taxanes.