The present invention relates to a method for preparing oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof, which comprises the steps of extracting olive plant and/or products obtained in the olive oil-manufacturing processes with water and/or an organic solvent and then concentrating and/or fractionating/purifying the resulting extract.

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7xc2xa7 119 and/or 365 to 2000-240347 filed in Japan on Aug. 8, 2000; the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The present invention relates to a method for the preparation of oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid as well as physiologically acceptable salts thereof and, in particular, to a method for the preparation of oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid from olive plant (Olea europaea L.) and/or products derived from the olive oil-manufacturing processes.
Olive is a plant belonging to genus olive of family Oleaceae, which has habitually been used as a raw material for foods. Olive is a plant widely cultivated for a long time and has presently and typically been grown on a large scale in the districts along the shore of the Mediterranean. Regarding the applications thereof, it is quite important and is not only used as oil stuffs such as olive oil in almost all the countries of the world including Japan and the United States, not to speak of the European countries, but also used as salt-preserved foods or materials for cosmetics and even as a herb (a medical plant). In addition, the olive oil cake has widely been used as a fertilizer, a feed and/or a fuel. In other words, it would be concluded that the olive is a vegetable material relatively stably available and highly safe for the human body.
Recently, the olive oil obtained through the oil expression of olive plant has been known as vegetable oil relatively hardly oxidized. Moreover, polyphenols present in the olive oil in trace amounts have attracted special interest and a variety of studies concerning, for instance, the physiological effects thereof have been conducted (see, for instance, International Olive Oil Council, New Food Industry, 1992, Vol.34, No. 4, pp. 28-52).
As another component of olive plant, it has been known that leaves of olive plant contain oleanolic acid and there have been elucidated, for instance, physiological effects thereof.
Oleanolic acid is a kind of oleanane type triterpenes and a compound present in, for instance, Swertia japonica Makino, Eugenia caryophyllata Thumb. (Clove), the rind of grapes and leaves of olive plant in its free state and in Panax japonicus C. A. Meyer, Daucus carota L. and Beta vulgaris L. in the form of saponin. Moreover, it may likewise be commercially available. There have conventionally been conducted a variety of studies concerning, for instance, physiological effects of oleanolic acid and it has been known that oleanolic acid possesses various effects such as a carcinogenic promoter-inhibitory effect (Japanese Un-Examined Patent Publication (hereunder referred to as xe2x80x9cJ.P. KOKAIxe2x80x9d) Sho 63-57519), an anti-inflammatory effect and an effect of promoting wound-healing (Japanese Examined Patent Publication (hereunder referred to as xe2x80x9cJ.P. KOKOKUxe2x80x9d) Hei 4-26623), an effect of inhibiting alcohol-absorption (J.P. KOKAI Hei 7-53385) and an effect of promoting new hair growing (J.P. KOKAI Hei 9-157139).
On the other hand, maslinic acid is a kind of oleanane type triterpenes and is a compound present in Olea europaea L. (olive), Humulus lupulus L. (hops), Mentha arvensis L. var. piperascens Holmes (Japanese mint), Punica granatum L., Eugenia caryophyllata Thumb. (Clove), Salvia officinalis L. (sage) and Zizyphus vulgaris Lam. Var. inermis Bunge, but it is not distributed so widely in the nature. Maslinic acid has been known to have an anti-inflammatory effect and anti-histamic effect.
As has been discussed above, oleanolic acid and maslinic acid are useful substances and therefore, it would be necessary to ensure the stable supply of these triterpenes. Regarding, in particular, maslinic acid, however, naturally occurring plant materials containing the same are deficient and there has not yet been established any effective method for preparing the same. Accordingly, a problem arises such that these compounds cannot stably be supplied and that they require high production coat.
Moreover, there has not yet been known any method for preparing either or both of oleanolic acid and maslinic acid from the same natural raw substances in highly purified states and any method for industrially mass-producing these substances in high efficiency.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for preparing oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and, in particular, to a method for industrially mass-producing these compounds from olive plant and/or products obtained from olive oil expression processes.
The inventors of this invention have conducted various investigations of methods for preparing oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof starting from olive plant for achieving the foregoing object, have found a method for quite efficiently preparing these compounds and have thus completed the present invention.
The present invention thus relates to a method for preparing oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof, which comprises the steps of extracting olive plant and/or products obtained in the olive oil-manufacturing processes with water and/or an organic solvent and then concentrating and/or conducting fractionation-purification treatment of, the resulting extract.
In this respect, oleanolic acid and maslinic acid as subjects of the present invention are substances represented by the following structural formulas (I) and (II), respectively. Moreover, the physiologically acceptable salts thereof are those derived from the xe2x80x94COOH groups in the structural formulas (I) and (II) and include those contained in olive plant and products obtained in the olive oil-manufacturing processes and those formed by treating oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid prepared by the method of the present invention with basic mediums and/or basis substances. The kinds of salts are not restricted to specific ones inasmuch as they are currently used in, for instance, cosmetics or pharmaceutical composition and foods and beverages.
The present invention preferably relates to a method for preparing oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid, which comprises the steps of extracting olive plant and/or products obtained in the olive oil-manufacturing processes with water and/or an organic solvent and then treating the resulting extracted substance and/or extracted liquid with an acidic medium and/or an acidic substance; and a method for preparing physiologically acceptable salts of oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid, which comprises the steps of extracting olive plant and/or products obtained in the olive oil-manufacturing processes with water and/or an organic solvent and then treating the resulting extracted substance and/or extracted liquid with a basic medium and/or a basic substance.
According to preferred embodiments of the present invention, the olive plant preferably used in the foregoing method is at least one member selected from the group consisting of fruits, seeds, rinds, leaves, stems and buds or germs of olive and dried products, pulverized products and defatted products of these ingredients and the products obtained in the olive oil-manufacturing processes preferably used in the foregoing method are at least one member selected from the group consisting of strained lees, extraction residues, squeezed oil, extracted oil, degummed oil scum, deacidified oil scum, dark oil, waste decoloring agent, deodorized scum, oil-expressed juice, waste water and waste filter mediums.
The organic solvent used in the extraction step is a hydrophilic organic solvent, in particular, a water-containing hydrophihc organic solvent because of its industrial advantages such as good ability of penetrating into plant""s tissues and achievement of high extraction efficiency. More specifically, the organic solvent is preferably at least one member selected from the group consisting of mixed solvents comprising chloroform and methanol and/or ethanol, pyridine, ethanol, dimethylsulfoxide and ethyl acetate, which are excellent in the solubilizing ability of oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid, from the viewpoint of the extraction ability. Moreover, examples of hydrophilic organic solvents preferably used herein include at least one member selected from the group consisting of alcohols, mixtures of chloroform and alcohols, acetone, tetrahydrofuran, dimethyl-sulfoxide and pyridine.
A hydrophobic organic solvent may likewise be used as such an extraction solvent. Examples of such hydrophobic organic solvents preferably used herein include at least one member selected from the group consisting of ethyl acetate, hexane, diethyl ether and chloroform.
In addition, in view of the extraction efficiency, the temperature of water and/or the organic solvent used in the extraction is not less than 50xc2x0 C. and preferably not less than 60xc2x0 C. and the extraction treatment is preferably carried out under pressure.
Moreover, according to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, the concentration step is at least one treatment selected from the group consisting of soluble contents recovering treatment and/or insoluble contents recovering treatment, which make use of the solubility of the components present in the extract in water and/or organic solvents; liquidxe2x80x94liquid partition using water-hydrophobic organic solvent systems; recrystallization; re-precipitation; and a treatment, in which precipitates formed through cooling are recovered and the fractionation-purification treatment is preferably at least one member selected from the group consisting of recrystallization, re-precipitation, purification by normal phase and/or reversed phase chromatography, decolorization and deodorization.
According to a further aspect, the present invention relates to the foregoing method in which the total content of oleanolic acid, maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof ranges from 85% to 100% and the purity of the resulting oleanolic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof is not less than 90% and the purity of the resulting maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof is not less than 90%.
The present invention relates to a method for preparing oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof, which comprises the steps of extracting olive plant and/or products obtained in the olive oil-manufacturing processes with water and/or an organic solvent and then concentrating and/or fractionating/purifying the resulting extract.
In this respect, oleanolic acid and maslinic acid are substances represented by the following structural formulas (I) and (II), respectively. Moreover, the physiologically acceptable salts thereof are those derived from the xe2x80x94COOH groups in the structural formulas (I) and (II) and the kinds of salts are not restricted to specific ones inasmuch as they are currently used in, for instance, cosmetics or pharmaceutical composition and foods and beverages.
Oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof can be obtained mainly from the fruits (including rinds), seeds and rinds of olive plant and they can likewise be obtained from leaves, stems and buds or germs thereof. It is also possible to suitably obtain these substances from dried, pulverized and defatted products thereof. Among these, preferred are defatted fruits (including rinds), and dried and pulverized products of rinds. Moreover, these compounds can likewise be obtained from products generated in the olive oil-manufacturing processes such as strained lees, extraction residues, squeezed (or compressed) oil, extracted oil, degummed oil scum, deacidified oil scum, dark oil, waste decoloring agent, deodorized scum, oil-expressed juice, waste water and waste filter mediums. Among them, preferred are strained lees and extraction residues.
The extraction process can be conducted using water and/or organic solvents. The extraction process may repeatedly be carried out, it may comprise a combination of different extraction methods or a combination of extraction treatments carried out using, for instance, different solvents. The extraction method and conditions therefor are not particularly restricted. For instance, the organic solvent usable herein may be either a hydrophilic organic solvent or a hydrophobic organic solvent, but preferably used herein are hydrophilic organic solvents from the viewpoint of industrial advantages such as good ability of penetrating into plant""s tissues and achievement of high extraction efficiency. In the extraction process, it is particularly preferred to use a water-containing hydrophilic organic solvent. Moreover, in view of the solubility of, for instance, maslinic acid, the organic solvents may preferably be at least one member selected from the group consisting of mixed solvents comprising chloroform and methanol and/or ethanol, pyridine, ethanol, dimethylsulfoxide and ethyl acetate, since they are excellent in the ability of solubilizing oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid. Moreover, examples of hydrophilic organic solvents preferably used herein include at least one member selected from the group consisting of alcohols, mixtures of chloroform and alcohols, acetone, tetrahydrofuran, dimethylsulfoxide and pyridine.
A hydrophobic organic solvent may likewise be used as such an extraction solvent. Examples of such hydrophobic organic solvents preferably used herein include at least one member selected from the group consisting of ethyl acetate, hexane, diethyl ether and chloroform.
In addition, in view of the extraction efficiency, the temperature of water and/or the organic solvent used in the extraction is not less than 50xc2x0 C. and preferably not less than 60xc2x0 C. since the solubility of the desired component is improved and plant""s tissues get swollen and the extraction treatment is preferably carried out under pressure to thus promote the extraction of desired components.
In the present invention, the extracted substance (or product) and/or extracted liquid obtained through the foregoing extraction procedures can subsequently be subjected to a concentration treatment and/or fractionation-purification treatment to thus obtain highly purified oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid as well as physiologically acceptable salts thereof. The concentration process can repeatedly be carried out or different concentration methods may be used in combination. Similarly, the fractionation-purification treatment may likewise repeatedly be carried out or different fractionation-purification treatments may be used in combination. Moreover, the fractionation-purification treatment may be conducted after the concentration treatment; or it may be carried out prior to the concentration treatment; or further the extract may continuously be subjected to a concentration treatment, a fractionation-purification treatment and a concentration treatment in this order. Combinations of these treatments other than those described above may of course be employed in the present invention.
Examples of such concentration step are soluble contents recovering treatments and/or insoluble contents recovering treatments, which make use of the solubility of the components present in the extract in water and/or organic solvents; liquidxe2x80x94liquid partition using water-hydrophobic organic solvent systems; recrystallization; re-precipitation; and a treatment, in which precipitates formed through cooling are recovered and examples of the fractionation-purification treatment are recrystallization, re-precipitation, purification by normal phase and/or reversed phase chromatography, decolorization and deodorization.
The combination of the foregoing extraction with the concentration treatment and/or the fractionation-purification treatment is not restricted to any particular one. For instance, olive plant is first extracted with water and/or a hydrophilic organic solvent, the hydrophilic organic solvent is partially or completely removed from the resulting extract, water is, if needed, added thereto, the resulting mixture is stirred and the fraction precipitated in the aqueous phase as insolubles is recovered to thus concentrate the extract. The water-insolubles thus precipitated may be recovered by, for instance, filtration or centrifugation, but the aqueous solution may be subjected to additional treatments such as addition of water and/or stirring in order to improve the rate of recovery. Alternatively, the extract evaporated to dryness obtained by removing the water and/or the hydrophilic organic solvent from the extract prepared from the olive plant may likewise be subjected to additional treatments such as addition of water and/or stirring and then the resulting insolubles are recovered through, for instance, filtration to thus concentrate the same. These concentrates can further be subjected to normal phase and/or reversed phase chromatography and/or fractionation-purification through recrystallization in order to obtain highly purified oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid as well as physiologically acceptable salts thereof.
Moreover, the concentration of the extract by the liquidxe2x80x94liquid partition using a water-hydrophobic organic solvent system may be carried out by, for instance, removing the hydrophilic organic solvent from the extract obtained from the olive plant, adding, if needed, water to the remaining aqueous solution and then adding a hydrophobic organic solvent. Moreover, the extract evaporated to dryness may likewise be concentrated according to the liquidxe2x80x94liquid partition using a water-hydrophobic organic solvent system by adding water and then adding a hydrophobic organic solvent. These concentrates can further be subjected to normal phase and/or reversed phase chromatography and/or fractionation-purification through recrystallization in order to obtain highly purified oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid as well as physiologically acceptable salts thereof.
The present invention preferably relates to the foregoing method in which the total content of oleanolic acid, maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof ranges from 85% to 100% and in which the purity of the resulting oleanolic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof and the purity of the resulting maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof are not less than 90%, preferably 90 to 100% and more preferably 95 to 100%.
The present invention also relates to a method for preparing oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid comprising the steps of extracting olive plant and/or products obtained in the olive oil-manufacturing processes with water and/or an organic solvent and then treating the resulting extracted substance and/or extracted liquid with an acidic medium and/or an acidic substance. In other words, the present invention relates to a method for obtaining physiologically acceptable salts of oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid in the form of their free states or as oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid. The oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid obtained in this method can likewise be subjected to a concentration and/or fractionation-purification treatments similar to those described above to obtain high purity oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid.
The present invention further relates to a method for preparing physiologically acceptable salts of oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid, which comprises the steps of extracting olive plant and/or products obtained in the olive oil-manufacturing processes with water and/or an organic solvent and then treating the resulting extracted substance and/or extracted liquid with a basic medium and/or a basic substance. In other words, the present invention relates to a method for obtaining oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid in the form of physiologically acceptable salts thereof. The physiologically acceptable salts of oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid obtained in this method can likewise be subjected to a concentration and/or fractionation-purification treatments similar to those described above to obtain high purity physiologically acceptable salts of oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid.
The oleanolic acid and maslinic acid as the subjects of the present invention are substances represented by the foregoing structural formulas (I) and (II), respectively.
Oleanolic acid is a kind of oleanane type triterpene and a compound present in, for instance, Swertia japonica Makino, Eugenia caryophyllata Thumb. (Clove), the rind of grapes and leaves of olive plant in its free state and in Panax japonicus C. A. Meyer, Daucus carota L. and Beta vulgaris L. in the form of saponin. Moreover, it may likewise be commercially easily available. There have conventionally been conducted a variety of studies concerning, for instance, physiological effects of oleanolic acid and it has been known that oleanolic acid possesses various effects such as a carcinogenic promoter-inhibitory effect (J.P. KOKAI Sho 63-57519), an anti-inflammatory effect and an effect of promoting wound-healing (J.P. KOKOKU Hei 4-26623), an effect of inhibiting alcohol-absorption (J.P KOKAI Hei 7-53385) and an effect of promoting new hair growing (J.P. KOKAI Hei 9-157139).
On the other hand, maslinic acid is a kind of oleanane type triterpene and is a compound present in Olea europaea L. (olive), Humulus lupulus L. (hops), Mentha arvensis L. var. piperascens Holmes (Japanese mint), Punica granatum L., Eugenia caryophyllata Thumb. (Clove), Salvia officinalis L. (sage) and Zizyphus vulgalis Lam. Var. inermis Bunge. Maslinic acid has been known to have an anti-inflammatory effect and anti-histamic effect.
The term xe2x80x9cphysiologically acceptable saltsxe2x80x9d used herein means salts derived from the xe2x80x94COOH in the structural formula (i) and (II) and the salts are not restricted to specific ones inasmuch as they may be those currently used in cosmetics or pharmaceutical compositions and specific examples thereof include alkali metal salts such as sodium, potassium and lithium salts; alkaline earth metal salts such as calcium, magnesium, barium and zinc salts; alkylamine salts such as methylamine, dimethylamine, trimethylamine, ethylamine, diethylamine, triethylamine, propylamine, butylamine, tetrabutylamine, pentylamine and hexylamine salts; alkanolamine salts such as ethanolamine, diethanolamine, triethanolamine, propanolamine, dipropanolamine, isopropanolamine and diisopropanolamine salts; other organic amine salts such as piperazine and piperidine salts; and basic amino acid salts such as salts with lysine, alginine, histidine and tryptophane.
Oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof can be obtained mainly from the fruits (including rinds) and seeds and they can likewise be obtained from leaves, stems and buds or germs thereof. It is also possible to suitably obtain these substances from dried, pulverized and defatted products of the foregoing raw materials.
Olive plant (Olea europaea L.) used as a raw material in the present invention may be any one irrespective of the growing district and the applications and examples thereof include home-grown olive plant and olive plant of European growth and those used for foods and for oil expression. The extract of the present invention can mainly be obtained from fruits or seeds of olive plant as well as the rinds, leaves, stems and buds or germs thereof. It is also possible to suitably obtain these substances from dried, pulverized and defatted products of the foregoing raw materials.
Moreover, the foregoing fruits of olive plant and defatted products thereof are preferably humidified by the addition of water or a steaming treatment. These fruits of olive plant and defatted products thereof get swollen to an appropriate degree according to the foregoing humidifying treatment and the extraction efficiency may be improved.
In particular, the use of such a defatted product of olive plant is preferred since the defatted product includes oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof in high concentrations and it is not necessary to remove oil components from the resulting oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof.
The defatted product as a raw material may be a squeezed and defatted product of olive or a defatted substance obtained through the extraction with, for instance, hexane.
Moreover, lipid components included in olive plant body or the defatted product thereof are removed through the extraction with at least one member selected from the group consisting of hydrocarbons such as pentane, hexane and heptane, lower fatty acid alkyl esters such as ethyl ester of acetic acid, and known non-aqueous organic solvents such as diethyl ether and the extraction treatment (or washing step) may, if necessary, be repeated to give a defatted product, which can likewise suitably be used in the present invention.
Thus, the oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof according to the present invention may be prepared by extracting olive plant with water and/or an organic solvent.
In addition to the foregoing, the oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof according to the present invention may likewise preferably obtained from products generated in the olive oil-manufacturing processes such as strained lees, extraction residues, squeezed oil, extracted oil, degummed oil scum, deacidified oil scum, dark oil, waste decoloring agent, deodorized scum, oil-expressed juice, waste water and waste filter mediums.
In other words, the present invention relates to a method for industrially and efficiently preparing oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof from products generated in the olive oil-manufacturing processes.
The strained lees is obtained in compressing olive plant, in particular, fruits and/or seeds thereof and this is preferably used herein since it contains large amounts of oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof, which are not eluted into the oil during the compression. In this connection, if the moisture content thereof is high, it is liable to be rotted and therefore, it is frequently dried. This strained lees has a high content of remaining oil components and is often used as a raw material for further oil expression. More specifically, the strained lees are extracted with lipophilic organic solvent such as hexane to give extracted oil and the extraction residues are thus produced in this oil expression process. The extracted oil is preferred in the present invention since it contains large amounts of oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof as compared with the squeezed oil. Moreover, the use of extraction residues is preferred since the residues are not only contain a large quantity of oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof, but also they have a low content of oil components and oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof can thus highly efficiently be concentrated and/or purified.
As edible olive oil, particularly preferred are those free of any purification such as high quality squeezed oil products (also often referred to as extra virgin or virgin oil). On the other hand, low quality squeezed oil products (also often referred to as rampant-virgin) and extracted oil products (also often referred to as pomerse oil) have been used after purification and by-products are obtained in this purification (or refining) processes. Purification processes for oil include, for instance, degumming processes, deacidifying processes, decolorization processes and deodorizing processes and each process generates degumming oil cakes, de-acidifying oil cakes, waste decoloring agent and deodorizing scum as by-products.
The degumming is a process, which comprises the steps of adding a proper amount of water to oil, heating the resulting mixture with stirring to thus purifying the oil through the formation of a suspension containing gum components by the action of hydration, and then removing the suspended gum components using a centrifugal separator and degumming oil cakes are generated as by-products.
The de-acidifying is a process comprising the steps of heating, with stirring, degummed oil together with an alkaline aqueous solution such as an aqueous caustic soda solution to thus mainly convert free acids such as free fatty acids into salts (soap in case of fatty acids), removing the resulting salts and washing with water and this process is likewise accompanied by the formation of de-acidifying oil cakes as by-products. This de-acidifying process would permit the removal of about 90% of oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof present in the oil and fats. More specifically, most of these components are partitioned off into the de-acidifying oil cakes and the use of the de-acidifying oil cakes as raw materials is preferred since they can efficiently provide oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof.
The decoloring is a process comprising admixing a decoloring agent (such as China clay) with oil, which has been neutralized and washed with water after the deacidifying process, heating and stirring the resulting mixture under reduced pressure and then filtering the mixture to give good, pale colored and decolored oil and this process likewise generates waste decoloring agent containing oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof adsorbed thereon.
The deodorization is a process comprising the steps of subjecting the decolored oil to a steam distillation step to thus remove any volatile components, which may give out bad smells, present in the oil and generates deodorization scum as a by-product. The use of the deodorization scum as a raw material is preferred since, in the deodorization process, not less than 50% of oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof present in the oil prior to the deodorization treatment are partitioned off into the deodorization scum.
Among these, the de-acidifying oil cakes as by-products of the deacidifying process contain a large quantity of soap and they are also used as raw materials for fatty acids. After decomposing the soap component by the addition of sulfuric acid to the deacidifying oil cakes and then boiling the resulting mixture, the water present therein is separated to give dark oil containing a large quantity of free acids such as free fatty acids. This dark oil is preferably used as a raw material in the present invention since it is a product obtained by concentrating the deacidifying oil cakes having a high content of oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof and therefore, the dark oil is further concentrated in the amount of oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid.
Moreover, fruits of olive are crushed into a pasty product and then the resulting product is compressed to give an oil-expressed juice comprising a mixture of fruit juice and oil and compressed residues (or strained lees). In the process for obtaining compressed oil by processing this oil-expressed juice according to, for instance, centrifugation, waste water is simultaneously obtained, which comprises oil-insoluble components such as moisture.
The extraction process can be conducted using water and/or an organic solvent. The extraction treatment may repeatedly be carried out or may comprise a combination of different extraction methods or a combination of extraction treatments using different solvents or the like. The method and conditions for the extraction treatment are not particularly limited, but the present invention permits the preparation of oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof through the extraction treatments with water, an organic solvent and/or a water-containing organic solvent.
Such an organic solvent usable in the extraction process may be either a hydrophilic organic solvent or a hydrophobic organic solvent. Preferably used herein are hydrophilic organic solvents since they are excellent from the industrial standpoint, for instance, they are excellent in the ability of penetrating into the plant""s tissues and in the extraction efficiency and it is particularly preferred in the extraction treatment to use a water-containing organic solvent. This is because the moisture may get swollen the cell tissues to thus improve the extraction efficiency and accordingly, the water-containing organic solvent may ensure a high extraction efficiency and is preferred from such a standpoint. Such an organic solvent used for preparing oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof according to the present invention from olive plant may be either a hydrophilic organic solvent or a hydrophobic organic solvent. Specific examples thereof include hydrophilic organic solvents, for instance, alcohols such as methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol, glycerin, propylene glycol and 1,3-butylene glycol and other known organic solvents such as acetone, tetrahydrofuran, acetonitrile, 1,4-dioxane, pyridine, dimethylsulfoxide, N,N-dimethyl-formamide and acetic acid; and hydrophobic organic solvents, for instance, hexane, cyclohexane, carbon tetrachloride, chloroform, dichloromethane, 1,2-dichloroethane, diethyl ether, ethyl acetate, benzene and toluene. These organic solvents may be used alone or in any combination of at least two of them.
It is industrially preferred to use a hydrophilic organic solvent while taking into consideration, for instance, the ability of penetration into plant""s tissues and the extraction efficiency. Specific examples of such preferred hydrophilic organic solvents are alcohols such as methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol, glycerin, propylene glycol and 1,3-butylene glycol and other organic solvents such as acetone, tetrahydrofuran and acetonitrile, as well as these solvents, which contain water. The oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof according to the present invention can be prepared from olive plant using at least one solvent selected from those listed above.
Moreover, preferably used herein are one or at least two members selected from the group consisting of mixed solvents comprising chloroform and methanol and/or ethanol, pyridine, ethanol, dimethylsulfoxide and ethyl acetate, while taking into consideration the solubility of oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid. Hydrophilic organic solvents preferably used herein are at least one member selected from the group consisting of alcohols, chloroform-alcohol mixtures, acetone, tetrahydrofuran, dimethylsulfoxide and pyridine. These solvents are excellent in the ability of solubilizing oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof and therefore, they permit the effective extraction of these components from, for instance, olive plant.
Hydrophobic organic solvents may likewise be used as extraction solvents. Such a hydrophobic organic solvent is preferably at least one member selected from the group consisting of ethyl acetate, hexane, diethyl ether and chloroform.
The conditions for the extraction are not particularly restricted. For instance, the extraction temperature ranges from 5 to 95xc2x0 C., preferably 10 to 90xc2x0 C., more preferably 15 to 85xc2x0 C. and the extraction may effectively be carried out even at ordinary temperature. The extraction efficiency is apt to increase in proportion to the extraction temperature. The extraction may suitably be carried out at ordinary pressure, under pressure or under reduced pressure established by, for instance, aspiration. Moreover, the extraction may be conducted according to the shaking extraction technique or an extraction technique, which makes use of an extraction machine equipped with a stirring machine, for the improvement of the extraction efficiency. The extraction time may vary depending on other extraction conditions, but in general ranges from several minutes to several hours. In this respect, the longer the extraction time, the higher the degree of extraction. However, the extraction time may appropriately be determined in the light of other production conditions such as productive facilities and yield.
Moreover, in either of cases in which the solvent used in the extraction comprises water alone, an organic solvent alone or a mixture of water and an organic solvent, the solvent may be used in an amount ranging from 1 to 100 times and preferably 1 to 20 times (mass/mass, those in the following description are shown in the same way also) with respect to the amount of the raw material.
Moreover, the temperature of water and/or an organic solvent is not less than 50xc2x0 C., preferably 50 to 100xc2x0 C. and more preferably 60 to 100xc2x0 C., likewise from the viewpoint of the extraction efficiency. More specifically, the use of such a solvent is preferred since it would permit the improvement of the solubility of the components to be extracted and the swelling of the plant""s cells to thus improve the extraction efficiency. The extraction under heating conditions permits the achievement of an extraction efficiency on the order of 1.5 to 2.5 times that achieved by the extraction at ordinary temperature (about 20xc2x0 C.).
The extraction may be carried out at a pressure preferably ranging from 0.5xc3x97105 to 10xc3x97105 Pa, more preferably 0.5xc3x97105 to 5xc3x97105 Pa, further preferably 0.5xc3x97105 to 3xc3x97105 Pa and most preferably 0.5xc3x97105 to 1.5xc3x97105 Pa, but more efficient extraction may be ensured when the extraction is carried out under pressure, for instance, ranging from 1xc3x97105 to 10xc3x97105 Pa, preferably 1xc3x97105 to 5xc3x97105 Pa, further preferably 1xc3x97105 to 3xc3x97105 Pa and most preferably 1xc3x97105 to 1.5xc3x97105 Pa, from the viewpoint of the extraction efficiency. Moreover, the extraction is preferably carried out at a pressure ranging from 1xc3x97105 to 1.5xc3x97105 Pa near the ordinary pressure, from the viewpoint of safety.
Further, the extraction is preferably conducted using a water-containing lower alcohol having a lower alcohol content of not more than 10% by mass, while taking into consideration, for instance, the yields of oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof. It is further preferred to use a water-containing lower alcohol having a lower alcohol content ranging from 10 to 95% by mass and it is most preferred to use a water-containing lower alcohol whose lower alcohol content is adjusted to the range of from 30 to 95% by mass.
In this respect, examples of alcohols used in the present invention include known alcoholic solvents, for instance, primary alcohols such as methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol, 1-propanol and 1-butanol; secondary alcohols such as 2-propanol and 2-butanol; tertiary alcohols such as 2-methyl-2-propanol; and liquid polyhydric alcohols such as ethylene glycol, propylene glycol and 1,3-butylene glycol. These solvents may be used alone or in any combination of at least two of them.
The term xe2x80x9clower alcoholxe2x80x9d herein used means known alcohols having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, for instance, primary, secondary, tertiary and liquid polyhydric alcohols such as those listed above and these lower alcohols may be used alone or in any combination of at least two of them.
The solvents and moisture can be removed from the extracted product and/or extracted liquid thus obtained to obtain oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof according to the present invention.
The removal of the solvents and/or moisture can be conducted by any known method such as distillation under reduced pressure, drying in vacuo (or under reduced pressure), freeze-drying (or lyophilization) and spray drying techniques. The oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof according to the present invention may be in any state and they are of course be in a liquid or solution state containing solvents and/or moisture.
The extract derived from a defatted product is preferred in the present invention since it is free of any oil-soluble component such as triglycerides, sterols and tocopherols and it is not necessary to remove these components for purification. Moreover, the defatted product includes residues after the oil expression and the compression residues and extraction residues obtained after carrying out the oil expression for preparing olive oil may be used as such defatted products. Therefore, the use of the defatted product would permit the effective use of olive as a natural resource. These materials are usually disposed or used as feeds and therefore, this method is also excellent in the production cost.
In the present invention, the extracted product and/or extracted liquid obtained through the extraction treatment can then be subjected to a concentration treatment and/or fractionation-purification treatment to obtain high purity oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof.
The concentration treatment can repeatedly be carried out or may comprise a combination of different concentration treatments. Similarly, the fractionation-purification treatment may repeatedly be conducted or may comprise a combination of different fractionation-purification treatments. Moreover, the concentration treatment may be carried out prior to or after the fractionation-purification treatment, or the concentration treatment may be carried out prior to the fractionation-purification treatment and then the concentration treatment may again be carried out. It is a matter of course that combinations of these treatments other than those listed above can be adopted in the present invention.
The concentration treatments are not restricted to specific ones inasmuch as they can improve the purity of the resulting oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts and specific examples thereof are soluble contents recovering treatments and/or insoluble contents recovering treatments, which make use of the solubility of the components present in the extract in water and/or organic solvents; liquidxe2x80x94liquid partition using water-hydrophobic organic solvent systems; recrystallization; re-precipitation; and a treatment, in which precipitates formed through cooling are recovered, which may be used alone or in any combination of at least two of them for conducting effective concentration.
Conditions for concentrating oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts are not restricted to specific ones. For instance, there may be listed a method, which makes use of the solubility in water. Oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof according to the present invention have relatively low polarities and accordingly, they are compounds hardly soluble or insoluble in water. Thus, the extract from olive plant and/or products obtained in the olive oil-manufacturing processes can considerably be concentrated by separating the extract into components hardly soluble in water and/or those insoluble in water or components hardly soluble or insoluble in water and components easily soluble in water, while making the most use of the aforementioned characteristics.
The components hardly soluble or insoluble in water can easily be obtained by pouring the extract from olive plant into water, stirring the resulting mixture and then recovering the precipitates thus formed through, for instance, filtration.
Moreover, oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof according to the present invention may, if needed, be concentrated through the liquidxe2x80x94liquid partition technique using a commonly used combination of solvents. It would be difficult to unconditionally determine such a combination of solvents, but examples thereof include those comprising hydrophobic organic solvents and examples of such hydrophobic organic solvents are known organic solvent such as hexane, carbon tetrachloride, chloroform, dichloromethane, 1,2-dichloroethane, diethyl ether, ethyl acetate, n-butanol, benzene and toluene. Among these, preferred are n-butanol, ethyl acetate and chloroform.
Oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof are hardly soluble in water and therefore, undesirable water-soluble components of the extract can be removed by separating the aqueous phase from the hydrophobic organic solvent phase. Therefore, the hydrophobic organic solvent can be removed from the hydrophobic organic solvent phase to thus concentrate oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof.
The fractionation-purification treatments usable herein are not restricted to specific ones inasmuch as they can improve the purity of oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof and remove impurities, but examples of such fractionation-purification treatments particularly preferred are purification by normal phase and/or reversed phase chromatography, recrystallization, re-precipitation, decoloration and deodorization, which may be used alone or in any combination of at least two of them for the effective fractionation-purification.
Alternatively, oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof according to the present invention can be fractionated and/or purified according to the normal phase and/or reversed phase chromatography. Among these, the use of the normal phase and/or reversed phase chromatography is particularly preferred for the fractionation-purification of the foregoing substances. Among the chromatography techniques, preferred are methods, which make use of liquid chromatography, since they would permit the fractionation-purification of oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof according to the present invention in a high yield without causing any decomposition of these compounds. Specific examples of liquid chromatography techniques include normal phase liquid chromatography, reversed phase liquid chromatography, thin layer chromatography, paper chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) techniques and either of these liquid chromatography techniques may be used for the fractionation-purification of oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof according to the present invention. Preferred are normal phase liquid chromatography, reversed phase liquid chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) techniques among others, while taking into consideration the resolution, throughput and the number of steps required. The fractionation-purification treatment permits the further concentration of the product obtained after the concentration and the isolation of the target component.
In this respect, the xe2x80x9cnormal phase liquid chromatographyxe2x80x9d herein used is, for instance, the following method. In other words, this method comprises the steps of preparing a column in which the fixed phase comprises, for instance, silica gel and the mobile phase comprises, for instance, a hexane-ethyl acetate mixed liquid or a chloroform-methanol mixed liquid; supplying the extracted product and/or extracted liquid derived from olive plant at a rate of loading ranging from 0.1% to 5% (wt (mass)/v (volume)); and then eluting a desired fraction according to a continuous elution method using a single mobile phase or the stepwise elution method in which the polarity of the solvent is gradually increased.
The xe2x80x9creversed phase liquid chromatographyxe2x80x9d herein used is, for instance, the following method. In other words, this method comprises the steps of preparing a column in which the fixed phase comprises, for instance, silica coupled with octadecyl silane (ODS) and the mobile phase comprises, for instance, a water-methanol mixed liquid, a water-acetonitrile mixed liquid or a water-acetone mixed liquid; supplying the extracted product and/or extracted liquid derived from olive plant at a rate of loading ranging from 0.1% to 5% (wt (mass)/v (volume)); and then eluting a desired fraction according to a continuous elution method using a single mobile phase or the stepwise elution method in which the polarity of the solvent is gradually increased.
The xe2x80x9chigh performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)xe2x80x9d herein used is, in principle, similar to the foregoing normal phase liquid chromatography or the reversed phase liquid chromatography and is a technique for more rapidly carrying out the fractionation-purification at a higher resolution.
The foregoing techniques are preferably used alone or in any combination of at least two of them in the present invention since the use thereof permits the preparation of oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof in a considerably concentrated and substantially impurity-free condition.
Moreover, the purity of oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof can be adjusted by the use of the foregoing technique or appropriately combining at least two of them.
For instance, the method for effectively obtaining oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof according to the present invention from olive plant comprises the steps of extraction with, for instance, a solvent such as water, a hydrophilic organic solvent, a water-containing hydrophilic organic solvent or other organic solvent; concentration, which makes use of the solubility in water; and purification by, for instance, using a column.
In addition, when a product obtained by concentrating the extract derived from olive plant with respect to oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof according to the present invention and further subjecting the resulting concentrate to a fractionation-purification treatment is subsequently subjected to decoloration and/or deodorization treatments, undesirable components are removed, the resulting product is in a colorless to pale colored state and/or an odorless to almost odorless state. Therefore, the decoloration and/or deodorization treatments are preferably used in the present invention since the applications of the product are not restricted in color and/or perfume and it can be used in a wide variety of fields without any restriction.
Examples of such decolorizing methods include treatments with activated carbon and white clay and examples of deodorizing methods are likewise treatments with activated carbon and white clay and supercritical extraction and steam distillation.
The combination of the extraction treatment with the concentration treatment and/or the fractionation-purification treatment is not restricted to any specific one, but oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts can be obtained by combining the foregoing treatments. Specific examples of the series of treatments are as follows, but the present invention is not restricted to any particular one.
For instance, after extracting olive plant with water and/or hydrophilic organic solvent, the hydrophilic organic solvent is partially or completely removed from the resulting extract, the extract is stirred while water is, if necessary, added thereto and then the insolubles in water, which are precipitated in the aqueous phase is recovered to thus concentrate the extract. The precipitated water-insoluble matter may be recovered by, for instance, filtration and centrifugation. In this respect, however, the aqueous solution is, if needed, subjected to various treatments such as addition of water and stirring for the improvement of the rate of recovery. Moreover, the extracted product, which is in a state evaporated to dryness and which is produced by removing the water and/or the hydrophilic organic solvent from the extract derived from olive plant may likewise be concentrated by subjecting, if necessary, the extracted product to various treatments such as addition of water and stirring and subsequent recovery of the resulting water insoluble matter by, for instance, filtration. This concentration method is preferred in the present invention since it is excellent in the safety as compared with the concentration method using solvents, the former method is carried out in an aqueous system and a wide variety of machinery and tools can be used therein. In addition, the method is preferred since the extract is almost free of any oil component and therefore, the method is excellent in the efficiency of concentration and/or purification.
These concentrates may be fractionated and purified by the normal phase and/or reversed phase liquid chromatography and/or recrystallization to thus give oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof purified to a high purity.
Moreover, the extract derived from olive plant may be concentrated according to the liquidxe2x80x94liquid partition technique in which the hydrophilic organic solvent is removed from the extract, water is, if needed, added to the remaining aqueous solution and a hydrophobic organic solvent is further added thereto. Further, the extracted product, which is in the state evaporated to dryness, may likewise be concentrated according to the liquidxe2x80x94liquid partition technique in which water is, if needed, added to the extracted product and a hydrophobic organic solvent is further added thereto. These concentrates may be fractionated and purified by the normal phase and/or reversed phase liquid chromatography and/or recrystallization to thus give oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof purified to a high purity.
In practicing the water-insoluble matter recovery method and the liquidxe2x80x94liquid partition method, the amount of water to be added is not specifically limited inasmuch as it permits the removal of the water-insoluble matter and the sufficient partition treatment, but the amount is preferably 1 to 100 times and more preferably 5 to 50 times and further preferably about 10 to 30 times the mass of the extract evaporated to dryness.
In addition, the amount of organic solvent to be added in the recovery of the organic solvent-soluble matter is not likewise particularly limited insofar as it permits the removal of the organic solvent-soluble matter and it preferably ranges from 1 to 100 times, more preferably 5 to 50 times and further preferably 10 to 30 times the mass of the extract evaporated to dryness. When using a water-organic solvent mixed solvent system, they are used in a volume ratio preferably ranging from 9:1 to 1:9 and more preferably 8:2 to 2:8.
In the liquidxe2x80x94liquid partition using water-hydrophobic organic solvent system, water and the hydrophobic organic solvent are preferably used in a volume ratio ranging from 9:1 to 1:9 and more preferably 8:2 to 2:8.
According to the production method of the present invention, the product containing oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof may have a high overall purity of oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts on the order of 85 to 100%, preferably 90 to 100% and more preferably 95 to 100%.
Preferably, the present invention relates to the foregoing method in which the purity of the sum of oleanolic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof or that of the sum of maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof are not less than 90%, preferably not less than 95% and more preferably not less than 99%.
The present invention further relates to a method for preparing oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid, which comprises the steps of extracting olive plant and/or products obtained in the olive oil-manufacturing processes with water and/or an organic solvent and then treating the resulting extracted product and/or extracted liquid with an acidic medium and/or an acidic substance. In other words, this is a method for converting physiologically acceptable salts of oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid into their free states or oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid. The oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid prepared according to this method can likewise be subjected to concentration and/or fractionation-purification treatments to thus give highly purified oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid.
The treatment with an acidic medium and/or an acidic substance may be carried out after the extraction treatment and prior to the concentration or fractionation-purification treatment; or it may be carried out after the concentration and/or fractionation-purification treatments. The treatment with an acidic medium and/or an acidic substance may repeatedly be carried out over a plurality of times.
As such acidic mediums, there may be listed any acidic ion-exchange resin. The acidic substance may be any currently used acidic component capable of shifting the pH value to acid region and examples thereof include, but not limited to, a variety of acidic components, for instance, strong acids such as hydrochloric acid and sulfuric acid; carboxylic acids such as formic acid and acetic acid; sulfonic acids such as benzene-sulfonic acid, with strong acids being preferably used herein.
The amount of the acidic medium and/or acidic substance to be used may be such that, in either of cases, they can provide protons (H+) in an amount of not less than the equivalent of the xe2x80x94COOH groups when the xe2x80x94COOH groups in the structural formulas (I) and (II) form salts. More specifically, the amount may vary depending on the differences in the quality of the acidic medium, the molecular weight of the acidic substance and the valency of acid used, but the amount of the acidic medium preferably ranges from 1 to 1000 times, more preferably 1 to 500 times the mass of the subject to be processed and that of the acidic substance preferably ranges from 0.05 to 5 times and more preferably 0.05 to 3 times the mass of the subject to be processed.
Further, the present invention relates to a method for preparing oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid in the form of physiologically acceptable salts thereof, which comprises the steps of extracting olive plant and/or products obtained in the olive oil-manufacturing processes with water and/or an organic solvent and then treating the resulting extracted product and/or extracted liquid with a basic medium and/or a basic substance. More specifically, this is a method for converting oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid into physiologically acceptable salts thereof. The physiologically acceptable salts of oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid prepared according to this method can likewise be subjected to concentration and/or fractionation-purification treatments to thus give highly purified physiologically acceptable salts of oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid.
The treatment with a basic medium and/or a basic substance may be carried out after the extraction treatment and prior to the concentration or fractionation-purification treatment; or it may be carried out after the concentration and/or fractionation-purification treatments. The treatment with a basic medium and/or a basic substance may repeatedly be carried out over a plurality of times.
As such basic mediums, there may be listed any basic ion-exchange resin. The basic substance may be any currently used basic component capable of shifting the pH value to basic region and examples thereof include, but not limited to, a variety of basic substances, for instance, strong bases such as sodium hydroxide; basic amino acids such as lysine and alginine; alkylamines such as ammonia and triethylamine; alkanolamines such as triethanolamine; and organic amines such as pyridine, with strong bases, basic amino acids, ammonia, alkylamines and alkanolamines being particularly preferred.
The amount of the basic medium and/or basic substance to be used may be such that, in either of cases, they can provide bases in an amount of not less than the equivalent of the xe2x80x94COOH groups present in the structural formulas (I) and (II). More specifically, the amount may vary depending on the differences in the molecular weights of the basic medium and/or the basic substance and the valency of acid used, but the amount of the basic medium preferably ranges from 1 to 1000 times, more preferably 1 to 500 times the mass of the subject to be processed and that of the basic substance preferably ranges from 0.05 to 5 times and more preferably 0.05 to 3 times the mass of the subject to be processed.
Physiologically acceptable salts of oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid are converted into free acids or oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid mainly for the purpose of making the product hardly soluble in water, while oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid are converted into physiologically acceptable salts thereof mainly for the purpose of improving the water-solubility of the product.
The content of oleanolic acid, maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof in the product may be determined by, for instance, the gas chromatography technique.
As has been discussed above in detail, the method of the present invention permits the preparation of highly purified oleanolic acid, maslinic acid and physiologically acceptable salts thereof.
Regarding the physiological effects of oleanolic acid and maslinic acid prepared according to the production method of the present invention, it has been known that oleanolic acid possesses a carcinogenic promoter-inhibitory effect, an anti-inflammatory effect, an effect of promoting wound-healing, an effect of inhibiting alcohol-absorption and an effect of promoting new hair growing and that maslinic acid possesses an anti-inflammatory effect and anti-histamic effect. Moreover, maslinic acid further possesses, for instance, a bleaching effect and an antitumor effect.
Oleanolic acid and maslinic acid having such effects may be used in a variety of fields and applications, for instance, oral and parenteral administration to human bodies, feeds for domestic animals and fishes, agricultural chemicals and industrial applications, but these substances are not particularly limited in, for instance, shapes.
Examples of preferred oral applications include the incorporation of these substances into foods and beverages and orally administered pharmaceutical agents. When these substances are used in foods and beverages and they are, for instance, incorporated into a diet, it would be expected to achieve an effect of, for instance, preventing any diseases caused by habitual way of life and therefore, they can be used as health foods and enriched or nutritional foods.
Moreover, the shapes or forms of these foods and beverages are not restricted to specific ones, but examples thereof include keepable foods, perishable foods, processed marine products, beverages, seasonings, edible fats and oils and dairy products.
Examples of particularly preferred parenteral applications include the incorporation of these substances into drugs externally applied to the skin. The shape of the drug externally applied to the skin is not particularly restricted and the substances may suitably be used in pharmaceutical agents, quasi-drugs and cosmetics. For instance, they are incorporated into pharmaceutical agents, they may be used as external preparations having effects of treating and/or alleviating a variety of skin diseases or disorders and further if they are used as cosmetics, they may be used as medicated cosmetics, which may possess bleaching effects.

Method for the preparation of oleanolic acid and/or maslinic acid


A real-time electronic bill presentment and payment system of a bill presentment and payment system (BPPS) provider is exposed to at least one of a business financial institution and an accounting software provider via an API. The BPP provider facilitates the institution or software provider providing a real-time electronic bill presentment and payment mobile application to a business. The BPPS obtains, via the API, from the institution or software provider, registration information relevant to the business. The real-time system populates a biller directory database with the registration information. No action, other than the facilitating, is required by the BPPS provider for the institution or software provider to obtain the registration information. In some instances, provision is made for loss of connectivity between the institution or software provider and the business and/or for alerts to the business.

Non-limiting examples of small businesses/micro businesses include tradespersons such as plumbers, landscapers, and the like; as well as small law firms, small accounting firms, and so on. Currently, about seventy percent of small businesses and microbusinesses do not use any kind of software to invoice their customers. About thirty percent of small businesses use software solutions such as Intuit's QuickBooks software (registered marks of Intuit Inc., Mountain View, Calif., USA). In the use-of-software case, small businesses sign up with a provider for an accounting solution, which may also include an invoicing and payment solution. When the small business is ready to send an invoice to the customer, through the software, using the customer's e-mail address, the business clicks on "send" in the software user interface and an e-mail is sent to the customer with the invoice information and one or more links in the email that allow the customer to pay the small business. Current payment techniques include (a) ACH (automated clearing house)—the customer enters the small business' routing number and account number and money will be pulled from the customer's checking account; or (b) the customer clicks on a button in the software user interface that says "pay by card" and the card number and details are entered. In this latter case, the software provider acts as a master merchant and a card transaction is executed. In case (a), the small business typically receives the money in about five days; in case (b), typically in about two days. Furthermore, the small business generally has to pay significant fees, on the order of 250 basis points. In a few limited instances, online money transfers such as provided by PayPal Holdings, Inc., San Jose, Calif., USA, are available.
As noted, about seventy percent of small businesses and microbusinesses do not use any kind of software to invoice their customers. They typically use paper invoices and are paid by cash, check, or techniques such as the Apple Pay mobile payment and digital wallet service available from Apple Inc., Cupertino, Calif. USA, or the Square Card Reader (Dongle) available from Square, Inc., San Francisco, Calif., USA. Such techniques may be expensive.
Still another option involves the customer accessing his or her bank's bill pay web site and entering the name and address of, e.g., her or his certified public accountant (CPA), and hitting "pay." However, the customer's bank still ends up cutting a paper check at the back end.
Current techniques for paying small businesses/microbusinesses are inefficient.

Real-time digital cash management solution


A refrigerating appliance is provided that includes an inner compartment for storing refrigerated or frozen goods, a cold generator, a refrigerating appliance control system for operating the cold generator, a mains connection for supplying the cold generator and the refrigerating appliance control system with an electrical voltage, and an ice-making machine arranged in the inner compartment. The ice-making machine includes its own control system for its own operation, which controls all functions of the ice-making machine independently of the refrigerating appliance control system. A connection is also provided from the ice-making machine and the ice-making machine control system to the mains connection of the refrigerating appliance.

The invention relate to a refrigerator.
It is known to dispose ice makers in the refrigeration compartment of refrigerators. In these cases ice makers are used which are filled with water and externally cooled, the water freezing from outside to inside and finally producing an ice cube. In addition, there are so-called clear ice makers in which a plurality of cooling fingers are immersed in a water-filled container. The refrigerant circulating inside the ice fingers causes the latter to be cooled down such that a layer of ice forms on the cooling fingers immersed in the water. As soon as the layer of ice on the cooling fingers has reached a usable size, it is released from the cooling fingers. A clear ice maker of this kind is described in DE 103 36 834 A1. This type of icemaker is finally available in a plurality of embodiments. Such ice makers are generally installed in the refrigeration compartment of a combined refrigerator/freezer.
The cold generator of the refrigerator generally consists of a refrigerant circuit for a refrigerant, comprising a compressor, a condenser and an evaporator which removes heat from the space to be cooled and transfers it to the refrigerant. The evaporators are generally implemented as wire tube evaporators, which means that the evaporators act as heat exchangers. They are mostly mounted horizontally inside the refrigerators. In the case of wire tube evaporators, the evaporator tube carrying the refrigerant is bent into parallel loops. The tube loops are fixed—mainly spot-welded—to wire rods and thus stabilized. The wire rods run in parallel spacings at right angles to the straight sections of the tube loops, above and below them. The purpose of connecting the refrigerant-carrying tube loops to the wire rods is, on the one hand, to prevent the tube loops from sagging and, on the other, to achieve higher cooling efficiency by increasing the surface area.
If an ice maker is provided in the refrigerator, it can be connected, for example, to the refrigerant circuit of the refrigerator. Another possibility is to equip the ice maker with a refrigerant circuit of its own and thermally couple the latter to the refrigerator's evaporator.
In order to ensure that a predefined temperature is maintained inside refrigerators, a control unit is normally provided which is connected to one or more temperature sensors and controls the cold generator accordingly. Said control units are in each case adapted to suit the type of refrigerator and may therefore be very different. If an ice maker is now to be provided for the refrigerator, complex and time-consuming adaptation work is necessary in order to enable the ice maker to be connected to the refrigerator control unit.

Refrigerating appliance comprising an ice-making machine


A distributed feedback (DFB) semiconductor laser device has a multiple-quantum-well (MQW) structure and a diffraction grating formed in the MQW structure. The diffraction grating includes a grating structure formed in QW layers and a barrier layer of the MQW structure and an embedded layer embedded in the grating structure. One of the QW layers and the barrier layers has an etching rate lower than the etching rate of the other layers of the MQW structure and functions as an etching stop layer during etching of the MQW structure for forming the diffraction grating.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a distributed feedback (DFB) semiconductor laser device and more particularly, to a DFB semiconductor laser device including a diffraction grating which can be formed with excellent controllability and excellent reproducibility as well as in-plane uniformity over an entire wafer surface. The present invention also relates to a method for fabricating such a DFB semiconductor laser device.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A DFB semiconductor laser device (referred to as simply DFB laser or DFB laser device, hereinafter) has a selection property for the emission wavelength thereof by using a feedback loop for effecting a selective feedback of a specified wavelength. The selective feedback is achieved by a diffraction grating which provides the laser active layer with a periodic spatial structure, wherein either the real part or the imaginary part of the complex refractive index of the laser device changes periodically with the location. The DFB laser operates at an excellent single mode, can emit laser of a stable single wavelength, and thus is widely used as the light source in optical communication systems.
The diffraction grating of the DFB laser is disposed in the vicinity of the active layer of the DFB laser and includes a grating layer having a periodic refractive index which is different from the refractive index of the adjacent layers. The emission wavelength xcexDFB of the DFB laser is determined by the formula xcexDFB=2neffxcex9, wherein xcex9 is the spatial period of the diffraction grating and neff is the effective refractive index of the waveguide of the laser device. Thus, the emission wavelength xcexDFB can be determined independently of the peak wavelength of the optical gain of the active layer. The DFB laser is categorized into two types including a refractive-index coupling type and a gain coupling type based on the material of the diffraction grating.
A DFB laser of the refractive-index coupling type has a diffraction grating made of a transparent material which allows the emission wavelength to path therethrough, wherein the real part of the complex refractive index changes periodically with location in the laser device.
On the other hand, a DFB laser of the gain coupling type has a structure wherein the imaginary part of the complex refractive index changes periodically with location in the laser device. The gain coupling type is again categorized into three subtypes including a first subtype (or gain grating type) wherein the diffraction grating is formed in the active layer structure itself to obtain a periodic gain distribution with respect to location, a second subtype (or absorption grating type) wherein a material for absorbing the emission wavelength is periodically disposed in the vicinity of the active layer to obtain a periodic absorption distribution with respect to location, and a third subtype (or current blocking type) wherein a material for blocking the injection current is periodically disposed in the vicinity of the active layer to obtain a periodic carrier density distribution with respect to location.
The gain grating type has a higher gain-coupling coefficient, whereby it is expected that the gain grating type achieves a higher product yield in fabrication of a single mode laser device. In addition, since a DFB laser of the gain grating type generally operates with an in-phase mode at a longer wavelength of the Bragg""s wavelengths, it is also expected that the gain distribution has an advantage of maintaining a stable single mode even at a higher injection current.
The gain grating type DFB laser is expected for use as a light source in an optical communication system due to the advantage of higher coupling coefficients, which are important parameters of the DFB laser, as described above, especially due to the advantage of the higher gain coupling coefficient.
However, there is a problem in the reproducibility and the controllability of the gain coupling coefficient in the gain grating type DFB laser device, resulting from the poor controllability of etching during the etching of the active layer structure to form the diffraction grating therein. This problem causes a poor product yield in fabrication of the DFB laser devices having an accurate coupling coefficient as designed.
More specifically, since the diffraction grating is formed by etching the active layer structure in the gain grating type DFB laser, the etching accuracy in the active layer structure significantly affects the coupling coefficient and the laser characteristics, which may have larger dispersions. A smaller coupling coefficient degrades the wavelength selectivity, whereby a multi-mode lasing occurs in the DFB laser. On the other hand, a large coupling coefficient increases the probability for occurrence of a spatial-hole-burning in the longitudinal direction of the laser device, whereby the operation at a higher injection current becomes unstable.
In this respect, it is to be noted that the electric field of the light assumes a maximum in the vicinity of the active layer, which in general constitutes the core of the waveguide. Thus, the diffraction grating formed in the active layer structure wherein the electric field of the light assumes the maximum causes the problem that the poor etching accuracy in the active layer affects the accuracy of the coupling coefficient. Even a small deviation in the thickness of the diffraction grating due to the poor etching accuracy significantly changes the coupling coefficient.
In particular, in the case of an active layer scheme having a multiple quantum well (MQW) structure, it is difficult to accurately control the etching depth in the current etching technique, and thus it is difficult to form a diffraction grating having accurate dimensions based on the design thereof.
Recently, it is common to employ an active layer scheme having the MQW structure in order to improve the laser characteristics, the MQW structure being such that a plurality of quantum well layers each having a thickness around 5 nm and a plurality of barrier layers each having a thickness around 10 nm are alternately layered. When a diffraction grating is formed in the MQW active layer structure by etching thereof, it is difficult to accurately control the etching depth or the resultant height of the grooves in the diffraction grating. In particular, it is difficult to obtain an in-plane uniformity of the etching depth for the MQW active layer structures over the entire wafer surface. This degrades the product yield of the gain grating type DFB lasers.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a gain-coupling DFB semiconductor laser device of the gain grating type, which has excellent in-plane uniformity over the wafer surface and can be fabricated with an excellent product yield.
The present inventors noted that the controllability, reproducibility and in-plane uniformity of the diffraction grating could be improved by incorporating a compound semiconductor layer within the active layer structure, the compound semiconductor layer acting as a quantum well layer or a barrier layer in the MQW active layer structure as well as acting as an etching stop layer for the etching of the MQW active layer structure. The present invention is based on this principle.
Thus, the present invention provides a DFB laser device including a compound semiconductor substrate, a multiple-quantum-well (MQW) active layer structure overlying the compound semiconductor substrate and including a plurality of quantum well (QW) layers and at least one barrier layer, and a diffraction grating including a grating layer structure and an embedded layer embedded in the grating layer structure, the grating layer structure including at least one of the QW layers and the barrier layer of the MQW active layer structure, the embedded layer having a composition different from a composition or compositions of the QW layers, the QW active layer structure including an etching stop layer underlying the diffraction grating in contact therewith.
The present invention also provides a method for fabricating a DFB laser device including the steps of: forming a MQW active layer structure overlying a compound semiconductor substrate and including a plurality of quantum well (QW) layers and at least one barrier layer, one of the QW layers and the at least one barrier layer constituting an etching stop layer; and etching a portion of the MQW active layer structure overlying the etching stop layer in contact therewith to form a diffraction grating in the portion of the MQW active layer structure, the etching stop layer having a lower etching rate compared to an etching rate or etching rates of the portion of the MQW active layer structure during the etching.
In accordance with the DFB laser of the present invention and the DFB laser device fabricated by the method of the present invention, the provision of the etching stop layer in the MQW active layer structure improves the in-plane uniformity of the etching depth in the active layer structure for forming the diffraction grating, whereby the in-plane uniformity of the laser characteristics and thus the product yield of the DFB laser devices of the gain grating type can be improved.


A scaffold system and method having a hollow horizontal member with an internal wedge head at each end thereof, and internal wedge assembly with an external handle, and a vertical member having affixed in coaxial alignment therewith at least one grid patterned rosette. Each internal wedge head at the end of the horizontal member is configured to couple to the grid patterned rosette coupled to the vertical member substantially simultaneously using the wedge assembly mechanism.

In 2008, the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) reported 88 fatalities occurred in the year 2007 related to the use of scaffolds and many more injuries. Twenty-seven percent (27%) of the fatalities and many of the injuries involved falls off of welded frame scaffolds over 25 feet high during the installation of the scaffolds. Safety officials recommend that scaffolding falls be pre-empted through the use of sequential erection techniques. This involves installing guardrails and standards at regular distances along the scaffold such that the exposed platform edge is not greater than a bay length between intervals. The use of safety harnesses or belts tethered to guardrails during the erection process is also a recommended safety practice. However, the use safety harnesses to deter fall injuries during scaffold erection is quite limited due to the components used in conventional scaffolds. The nature and design of conventional scaffold components, as described herein, disadvantageously do not allow the effective use of safety harnesses during the erection process.
Tube and coupler scaffolds are so-named because they are built from tubing connected by coupling devices. Due to their strength, they are frequently used where heavy loads need to be carried, or where multiple platforms must reach several stories high. Components of scaffolds include vertical standards having coupling rings or rosettes, horizontal components such as ledgers and guardrails coupled to the coupling rings or rosettes, footings, decks/platforms and diagonal braces. Their versatility, which enables them to be assembled in multiple directions in a variety of settings, also makes them difficult to build correctly.
Conventional scaffolding systems have various components. FIG. 1 illustrates a supported scaffold 100 consisting of one or more platforms supported by rigid support members such as poles, tubes, beams, brackets, posts, frames and the like. More specifically, the supported scaffold 100 includes the following components: deck/platform 101, horizontal members, or ledgers 102, vertical standards 103. Additional components include diagonal braces to increase the stiffness and rigidity of the scaffold 100.
FIG. 2 is an illustration of a vertical standard 103. Vertical standards are typically cylindrical tubes 200 comprised of hot-dip galvanized steel or aluminum. A collar with an expanded or reduced diameter or a spigot at either or both ends of the vertical standard facilitates the joining of vertical standards from end to end. Rosettes 201 are positioned and then welded or otherwise attached along the tubes providing connections for horizontal members and diagonal braces. The vertical standard can have from one to 8 or more rosettes placed along the tubing using a predetermined spacing between rosettes, for example, about every 20 inches.
FIG. 3 illustrates a ledger 102. A ledger is a horizontal member that serves as both a guardrail and bracing element. The ledger 102 is comprised of tubing 300, heads 301 and wedges 302. Ledgers 102 are available in different lengths, depending on the scaffolding bay length, deck type and load. It is the conventional manner in which these ledgers are coupled to vertical standards that contribute to scaffolding falls as further described herein. Once the tubing on a level is installed, decks or platforms 101 made of, e.g., hot-dip galvanized steel, aluminum, wood or an aluminum frame with plywood board are installed to allow workers to traverse the scaffold 100 and install the guardrails (e.g., ledgers 102).
Referring now to FIG. 4, wedge 302 is shown being hammered into the slot or gap of head 301 at the end of a ledger 102 so as to couple it to the rosette 201 of the vertical standard 200. This must be done by a worker first at the proximate end of the ledger 102 and then at the distal end of the ledger 102. However, as the proximate end of the ledger 102 is being coupled to the vertical standard using the wedge 302, the distal end of the ledger 102 is free and uncoupled, that is, until the worker can traverse the platform to the distal end of the ledger 102 and hammer in a wedge 302 at the distal end. During this time, the distal end of the ledger 102 remains uncoupled from the vertical standard. Hence, if the installer is harnessed to the ledger 102 and the scaffold tilts toward the uncoupled, distal end, the installer may tumble down the platform and the safety harness will exit the uncoupled end of the ledger, providing no measure of safety to the installer.
A conventional rosette 500, as seen in FIG. 5, has a central aperture 503 to receive the vertical tubing, four small openings 501A-D to facilitate right-angled connections and four larger openings 502 A-D to facilitate connections at any angles. Typically, a vertically and horizontally slotted head 504 coupled to the end of a ledger is positioned with respect to the rosette 500 such that the horizontal slot of the head 504 is positioned over and under the rosette 500 and the vertical slot of the head is aligned with an aperture of the rosette 500. A wedge 302 is then hammered into the vertical slot (or gap) to couple the ledger 102 via the head 504 to the vertical standard 103 via the rosette 500 using, inter alia, frictional force. Note that, disadvantageously, until the wedge 302 is installed, there is significant play between the rosette 500 and head of a horizontal member giving rise to safety concerns. Furthermore, once installed, wedges often work free when workers traverse the platform. When these wedges work free, the scaffold can become unstable and collapse. Further, even if the scaffold does not collapse, steel wedges, which, as seen in the Figure, are not integrated into the head or the ledger, can fall from the scaffold injuring workers below.
What is desired is a scaffolding apparatus and method that is configured to couple both ends of a ledger (also referred to herein as a horizontal member) to a vertical standard (also referred to herein as a vertical member) simultaneously, and which has an internal wedge assembly mechanism that allows a single installer to insert and lock wedges at both ends of the horizontal member substantially simultaneously to the vertical standard. The invention provides such an apparatus and method.


A surgical milling cutter includes a milling cutter bracket, a locking device and a bottom electric motor connected successively. The milling cutter bracket includes a fixing seat with a through hole. A finger guide apparatus with an L-type first bracket at the top end thereof is provided on the upper part of the fixing seat. The end of the L-type first bracket's short side is provided with a downward projection. The lowest point of the projection is lower than that of the milling cutter's cylindrical head when the milling cutter is working normally. The surgical milling cutter utilizes the projection to prevent the possibility of an object contacting with the cylindrical head, thus avoiding an object being cut unevenly. Meanwhile, the L-type bracket can be driven by the finger guide apparatus to rotate so as to change the running direction of the milling cutter, thus facilitating surgical procedures.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a surgical cutting machine, and more particularly to a surgical milling cutter.
2. Description of the Prior Art
During a surgical operation, a milling cutter is used for cutting. The milling cutter comprises a milling cutter bracket, a blade and an electric motor. The top of the milling cutter bracket has an L-shaped support frame. The short side of the L-shaped support frame has a hole. The cylindrical head at the front part of the blade of the milling cutter extends into the hole to ensure that the milling cutter provides a better effect. In order to protect the milling cutter, the cylindrical head doesn't fully extend into the hole so a portion of the cylindrical head is exposed. In the existing technology, the short side of the L-shaped support frame is a flat configuration. When cutting an object, the cylindrical head doesn't work if it touches the object. The object will be cut unevenly. During cutting, it is difficult for the milling cutter to change direction so it is not convenient for use.
Accordingly, the inventor of the present invention has devoted himself based on his many years of practical experiences to solve these problems.