Bioactive compounds derived from plants are secondary metabolites that can act through
various bioactivities, namely as antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anti-hypertensive,
and hypoglycemic agents. Combined with the pressure generated by consumers for more natural
products with beneficial effects on health, these compounds may be suitable candidates to act as
preservatives in food products. For this purpose, the extraction process becomes essential for the
acquisition of a quality extract with efficiency and with the desired final properties. Therefore,
the main objective of this work was to perform the optimization of the extraction yield of olive
leaves (Olea europaea L.), by applying response surface methodology (RSM) and employing dynamic
maceration as extraction technique. Three factors were analyzed: time (F1), temperature (F2), and
solvent (F3), ranging from 5 to 120 min, 25 to 100 C, and from 0 to 100% ethanol, respectively. The
study used the Box Behnken design, relying on 17 individual randomized runs. The response was the
dry weight of the extract (Y1), which ranged from 21.1 to 90.5 mg. The optimization studies pointed
to the increase of yield with the increase of time and temperature, but inversely by applying higher
time and lower temperature values and higher temperature and lower time values. The highest yield
of the dry extract was achieved at 120 min (F1), 25 C (F2), and 87% (F3) of ethanol:water. Future
studies will be carried out to analyze the preservative effects of incorporating olive extract in foods,
as well as analysis of other response for optimizing the best food preserving extract.
