Rye bran, which is often discarded after flour milling, contains valuable compounds that may be used in the production of functional ingredients. In this study supercritical CO2 extraction process of rye bran was optimized to obtain the highest extract yields by applying central composite design with three independent variables, pressure (25, 40, 55 MPa), temperature (30, 50, 70 degrees C) and dynamic extraction time (60, 90, 120 min). The importance of evaluated parameters could be arranged in the following order: temperature > pressure > dynamic extraction time. Calculated response surface model was found to be significant and enabled to select preferable extraction parameters: the highest extract yield (similar to 2.5%) was obtained at 55 MPa, 70 degrees C, and 120 min. The interactions between different parameters were also evaluated. The dominant fatty acids in extracted oil were linoleic (61.09%), palmitic (13.74%), oleic (13.65%) and linolenic (6.37%); oxygen radical absorbance (ORAC) and DPPH circle scavenging capacities of rye bran extract were 683.8 +/- 45 and 62.28 +/- 1.2 mu M trolox equivalents/g, respectively, while total phenolic content was 14.62 +/- 0.61 mg gallic acid equivalents/g. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.