Surface-active Ionic Liquids for Micellar Extraction of Piperine from Black Pepper

Abstract

We present the application of ionic liquid-aqueous micellar solutions as isolation media for the pharmaceutically active ingredient piperine from black pepper. Several surface-active ionic liquids including a biodegradable betaine derivative were used for the extraction of piperine, and a strong correlation between extraction yield and the critical micelle concentration of the respective ionic liquid was found. A scaled strategy for the isolation of piperine was developed that allowed recovery and recycling of the aqueous ionic liquid micellar solution for five runs without any loss in extraction efficiency.