RESEARCH LINES

The SAC team synthesizes bioSUPRAS through the spontaneous self-assembly of bioamphiphiles by energy-saving processes that occur with high atom economy. Their chemical, physical and structural characterization is carried out by a variety of techniques. BioSUPRAS with specific properties and interactions that meet the criteria of green solvents are tailored by selection of the bioamphiphile and the experimental conditions for their self-assembly. The SAC group has broad experience in the development of tailored bioSUPRAS that provide innovative and cost-effective alternatives to petroleum-based organic solvents in extraction processes at both, the analytical and industrial scale.

The SAC team develops sample treatments that intend to go beyond the state-of-the-art in the integration of contaminant extraction and sample cleanup in a single step and the efficient extraction in multiresidue analysis. For this purpose, it takes advantage of the unique properties of bioSUPRAS for extraction processes (e.g. presence of different polarity microenvironments in their nanostructures, high concentration of solubilisation sites, discontinuous character, etc.) along with the possibility of excluding macromolecules through physical and chemical mechanisms.  BioSUPRAS extracts are used with a variety of techniques (e.g.LC-IMS-QTOF, LCxLC-QTOF, UHPLC-QQQ, LC-QTRAP, GC-MS, etc.). The final goal of this research line is to provide greener, faster, simpler and cost-effective sample treatments for the determination of multi-components covering a wide polarity range in the environmental, health and agri-food sectors.

The bioSUPRAS-based technology has been developed by the SAC group to address the need for the use of renewable sources in the recovery of healthy ingredients, product manufacturing and solvent production, and the need for the development of processes that really fit into the circular economy. For this purpose, our team develops processes to extract bioactive ingredients from plants, microalgae and agro-industrial residues. Bioactives include carotenoids, polyphenols, alkaloids, flavonoids, etc. The final goal of this research line is to provide the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, food and textile industry with bioSUPRAS extracts enriched with natural bioactives obtained from renewable sources through cleaner production.