Patent ID: 7649120

Claim:
A process for producing solanesol from potato stems or leaves with microwave-assistance, comprising: a. drying fresh potato stem or leaves under ambient temperature; milling the dried leaves to 40 mesh powders; mixing the powders with 95% ethanol at the ratio of 1:1 (w/w); and irradiating the mixture with microwaves in a microwave-drying equipment at about 30-40° C. under the pressure of 0.08MPa for 10-20 min to obtain Material A, wherein the microwave irradiation power is 1000-1500W at a frequency of 2450 MHz; b. immersing Material A in 95% ethanol, wherein the ratio of Material A to ethanol (w/w) ranges from 1:5 to 1:15; irradiating the suspension with microwaves in a microwave extraction equipment with water condenser, wherein the overall microwave power is 1000W -1500W with the frequency of 2450 MHz, and wherein the suspension is exposed to microwave irradiation for 30-50min at a temperature of 45-65° C. while being stirred at 60-100 rpm; filtering the resulting extract at the pressure of 0.08MPa to permit evaporation of ethanol, thereby obtaining Material B; and c. drying Material B in a microwave-drying equipment at 50° C. and 0.08 MPa for 10-12 hours, wherein the overall microwave power is 1000W-1500W at the frequency of 2450 MHz, thereby obtaining crude solanesol.