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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Elisabete Maria de Castro Lima

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Department of Physics, Chemistry and Engineering (DCFQE), Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Azores, 9500-321 Ponta Delgada, São Miguel, Azores, Portugal
Interests: natural product chemistry; food biotechnology; essential oils; bioactive metabolites
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Jorge Manuel Rosa de Medeiros

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Department of Physics, Chemistry and Engineering (DPCE) and Biotechology Centre of Azores (CBA), University of Azores, 9500-321 Ponta Delgada, São Miguel, Azores, Portugal
Interests: natural product chemistry

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Terrestrial and marine plants are abundant resources for the discovery of new structurally diverse and biologically active compounds that have attracted the attention of the scientific community.

This Special Issue provides a venue for the publication of review or research articles describing the chemical constituents (including polyphenols, aminoacids, fatty acids, terpenes, amongst others) and biological activity of selected terrestrial and marine plants, to evaluate their use as functional foods and/or for producing products for the pharmaceutical, medical, cosmetic, food and agrochemical industries.

We look forward to your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Elisabete Maria de Castro Lima
Prof. Dr. Jorge Manuel Rosa de Medeiros
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

plants
macroalgae
food products
waste valorization
chemical composition
primary metabolites
secondary metabolites
bioactivity
health benefits
biotechnological application

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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11 pages, 1738 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Effect of Hot-Air Convective Drying on Activity Retention of Amylase and Invertase in Dried Mango of Varieties Sindri, SB Chaunsa, and Tommy Atkins

by Adnan Mukhtar, Sajid Latif and Joachim Müller

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(15), 6964; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app11156964 - 28 Jul 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1667

Abstract

Recently, fruit-drying industries are showing great interest in producing dry fruits that preserve a high enzyme content. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of hot-air convective drying on activity retention of amylase and invertase in dried mango of varieties Sindri, Samar Bahisht (SB) Chaunsa, and Tommy Atkins. Convection drying was conducted under over-flow mode at five temperatures (40, 50, 60, 70, and 80 °C), two air velocities (1.0 and 1.4 m s⁻¹), and constant specific humidity of 10 g kg⁻¹ dry air. The enzymatic degradation data were fitted to the first-order reaction kinetics model, in which the temperature dependence of the rate constant is modelled by the Arrhenius-type relationship. Results showed that the maximum amylase and invertase activity for dried mango of all three varieties was best preserved in samples dried at a temperature of 80 °C and an air velocity of 1.4 m s⁻¹. In contrast, a lower drying temperature and an air velocity of 1.0 m s⁻¹ contributed to a significant decrease (p < 0.05). Exploration of different temperatures and air velocities to save amylase and invertase in dried mango is useful from an industrial point of view, as mango can be a natural dietary source of digestive enzymes to improve digestion. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chemical Composition from Terrestrial and Marine Plants—Bioactivity Impacts and Biotechnology Applications)

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Review

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15 pages, 902 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperReview

Variations in Essential Oil Chemical Composition and Biological Activities of Cryptomeria japonica (Thunb. ex L.f.) D. Don from Different Geographical Origins—A Critical Review

by Ana Lima, Filipe Arruda, Jorge Medeiros, José Baptista, João Madruga and Elisabete Lima

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(23), 11097; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app112311097 - 23 Nov 2021

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2250

Abstract

The scientific community is paying increasing attention to plant waste valorization, and also to “greener” practices in the agriculture, food and cosmetic sectors. In this context, unused forest biomass (e.g., leaves, seed cones, branches/twigs, bark and sapwood) of Cryptomeria japonica, a commercially important tree throughout Asia and the Azores Archipelago (Portugal), is currently waste/by-products of wood processing that can be converted into eco-friendly and high added-value products, such as essential oils (EOs), with social, environmental and economic impacts. Plant-derived EOs are complex mixtures of metabolites, mostly terpenes and terpenoids, with valuable bioactivities (e.g., antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, neuroprotective, antidepressant, antimicrobial, antiviral and pesticide), which can find applications in several industries, such as pharmaceutical, medical, aromatherapy, food, cosmetic, perfumery, household and agrochemical (e.g., biopesticides), with manifold approaches. The EOs components are also of value for taxonomic investigations. It is known that the variation in EOs chemical composition and, consequently, in their biological activities and commercial use, is due to different exogenous and endogenous factors that can lead to ecotypes or chemotypes in the same plant species. The present paper aims to provide an overview of the chemical composition, biological properties and proposals of valorization of C. japonica EO from several countries, and also to indicate gaps in the current knowledge. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chemical Composition from Terrestrial and Marine Plants—Bioactivity Impacts and Biotechnology Applications)

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