Olive Leaf Extract (Oleuropein)

Thovek's olive leaf extract is made from dried Olea europaea L. leaf, the material that comes off cultivated olive groves at pruning, and is standardised on oleuropein (CAS 32619-42-4, C25H32O13, MW 540.52) — a secoiridoid glucoside formed as an ester of elenolic acid with hydroxytyrosol, and the dominant phenolic of the leaf. Grades run at 6%, 10%, 20%, 40% and 60% oleuropein by HPLC, alongside total-polyphenol grades of 20–40% by UV as gallic acid equivalent and hydroxytyrosol-enriched grades at 5–20%. Those two assay bases are not interchangeable and a great deal of commercial confusion turns on it: a 40% total-polyphenol material and a 40% oleuropein material are different products at different prices. State which method and which marker your specification is written against when you enquire, and we will quote to that basis. Oleuropein is chemically labile in a way that matters on the production floor. It hydrolyses to hydroxytyrosol (CAS 10597-60-1, C8H10O3, MW 154.16) and elenolic acid under heat, prolonged light exposure, acid or alkali, so a formulation that runs a long hot wet step, or sits outside roughly pH 4–7, will drift its assay downward and drift hydroxytyrosol upward over shelf life. Hydroxytyrosol-enriched grades are made by taking that hydrolysis to completion deliberately and under control, rather than letting it happen in the customer's mixing tank. Oleuropein is also strongly bitter, which is a real formulation constraint at higher inclusion levels in beverages and chewables; buyers usually pair it with a masking system or move the load into a capsule. Extraction is 10:1 to 25:1 native, using water and food-grade ethanol only, with no class 1 solvents and residual solvents held within ICH Q3C class 3 limits. One origin point deserves emphasis because it is mishandled often enough to cause recalls: the olive is a drupe, not a tree nut, and olive leaf extract is not a tree-nut allergen and must not be declared as one. Nor is it olive oil or an olive fruit product — it is a leaf extract, vegan and vegetarian, with no milk, egg, soy, fish, crustacean, peanut, sesame or gluten-containing input, non-GMO and not irradiated. The powder is light yellow to yellowish-brown, free-flowing at 80 mesh, and dissolves readily in water and aqueous ethanol at the lower assay levels. Thovek describes composition and established nutrient function only and makes no representation as to physiological effect. Every shipment ships with a COA carrying the HPLC chromatogram and the marker basis used, MSDS, allergen and GMO statements, BSE/TSE-free declaration, botanical-identity confirmation and process flow chart.