Extraction of oil and bioactive compounds from Araucaria angustifolia (Bertol.) Kuntze using subcritical n-propane and organic solvents

Araucaria angustifolia is a conifer belonging to the Araucariaceae family, whose seeds, which are known as “pinhao”, are consumed as food. We evaluated the proximal composition of these seeds endosperms ( in natura ). The values of moisture, ash, crude protein, total lipids, total fibers, and other carbohydrates were 43.70%, 1.50%, 3.42%, 1.67%, 1.29%, and 48.42%, respectively. The total lipids were extracted using subcritical n -propane and the yields and chemical composition of oils were compared to Soxhlet method. The extraction yields showed no statistical difference ( p