Sustainability, innovation and green chemistry in the production and valorization of phenolic extracts from Olea europaea L.

The polyphenols from Olea europaea L. matrices (leaves, olives, oil and by-products) are well known for the biomedical effects related mainly to the antioxidant activity. In this study, a sustainable extractive technology followed by membrane separation methods was described to obtain different commercial extracts for applications in the functional food industry, pharmaceutical and cosmetic fields. In particular, the fractions enriched with hydroxytyrosol (OH-Tyr) can be used in pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and cosmetic applications, whereas those with lower phenol concentrations can be employed in the food industry to preserve meat and bakery products. Finally, an example of green chemistry procedure applied to OH-Tyr enriched fractions was described as a sustainable tool to increase the potentiality of application of these extracts.