Lipid composition in tomato skin supercritical fluid extracts with high lycopene content

Abstract

Abstract The use of supercritical fluid extraction is proposed for obtaining stable extracts with high added value from natural and economical sources. Lipid composition, namely, of FFA, TAG, and FAME, in tomato skin extracts with high lycopene content was determined. Separation of different classes of lipids was achieved from tomato extracts using TLC followed by transesterification and GC, and lycopene and other carotenoids were analyzed by HPLC with a photodiode array detector. In lycopene extracts obtained using supercritical fluids, no FFA were found and polyunsatureted TAG represented only 9.2% of the total TAG content.