Study on optimization for the extraction of ursolic acid from loquat leaf

The subcritical water extraction method was used to extract ursolic acid from loquat leaf, and the extracted solution was analyzed by HPLC to identify the ingredients and contents.The influence of extraction time, temperature, flow rate and the system pressure on the extraction ratio were investigated.The results showed that the optimum conditions with the extraction ratio of 70.28% were 200℃, 75min, 50Hz and 10MPa. Compared to the alcohol recirculating extraction and ultrasonic extraction method, the SWE method could shorten the extraction time and improve the extraction ratio of ursolic acid without consumption of organic solvents, which proves the SWE technique to be an energy-efficient method and paves the way for its industrialization.