Ephedra alata, Ononis angustissima, and Genista saharae are endemic Algerian
plants with pharmacological potential, used for centuries in traditional
medicine. Herein the efficiency of subcritical water extraction (SWE) of
phenols and flavonoids from these plants was evaluated by spectrophotometric
assays. The most important operational parameters of the technique
(temperature, pressure, time) were optimized for each plant based on phenols
yield. At defined optimal extraction conditions (140?C for E. alata, 155?C
for O. angustissima and G. saharae, 50 bars, 15min), maximum contents of
phenols in the extracts were 16.13, 18.33, and 21.12 mg GAE/g dry weight,
for E. alata, O. angustissima, and G. saharae, respectively. Considering the
safety of the used solvent, excellent yields of phenols and short extraction
time, subcritical water extraction can efficiently be used in exploitation
of pharmacological potentials of the studied plants.