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Extraction, Isolation and Identification of Bioactive Compounds from Plant Extracts

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Natural Products Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 June 2022) | Viewed by 9366

Special Issue Editors

Department of Analytical Chemistry, University of Granada, Avda Fuentenueva s/n, 18071 Granada, Spain
Interests: bioactive compounds; phenolic compounds; green extraction techniques; microencapsulation; mass spectrometry; metabolomics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the last decade, research on natural bioactive phytochemicals has garnered increasing interest. This multidisciplinary investigation includes sustainable and clean extraction technologies, purification procedures, and advanced analytical techniques.

For this reason, a Special Issue in Molecules focused on the extraction, purification, and chemical characterization of phytochemicals from plant extracts with potential bioactivity will provide an overview of the current status and future perspectives on the manufacturing design of these highly valuable products.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Bioactive compounds from medicinal and marine plants: secondary metabolites, phenolic compounds, terpenes and terpenoids, seagrass, seaweeds, and microalgae.
  • Bioactive compounds from food by-products: valorization of food byproducts; secondary metabolites, phenolic compounds, and terpenes and terpenoids.
  • Advanced extraction techniques: green and GRAS solvents, supercritical fluid extraction, microwave-assisted extraction, ultrasound-assisted extraction, pressurized liquid extraction, enzymatic extraction, and experimental design.
  • Characterization and purification technologies: preparative chromatography, countercurrent chromatography, size-exclusion chromatography, high performance liquid chromatography, gas chromatography, and mass spectrometry.
  • Bioactivity evaluation.

This Special Issue on the Extraction, Isolation, and Identification of Bioactive Compounds from Plant Extracts will include a selection of recent research and current review articles about the composition and content of bioactive compounds in plant extracts. This Special Issue is particularly focused on articles describing new extraction and purification technologies to recover and purify bioactive compounds from different plant sources, their comprehensive chemical characterization, and their bioactive properties.

Dr. Isabel Borrás-Linares
Prof. Dr. Jesús Lozano-Sánchez
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. Molecules 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 2700 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

  • Advanced Green Extraction Techniques
  • Purification Techniques
  • Advanced Analytical Platforms
  • Medicinal Plants
  • Food By-products
  • Bioactivity Assays

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

9 pages, 1174 KiB  
Article
Jatrolignans C and D: New Neolignan Epimers from Jatropha curcas
by Yi-Lin He, Pei-Zhi Huang, Hong-Ying Yang, Wei-Jiao Feng, Zhao-Cai Li and Kun Gao
Molecules 2022, 27(11), 3540; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/molecules27113540 - 31 May 2022
Viewed by 1224
Abstract
Two new neolignans jatrolignans, C (1) and D (2), a pair of epimers, were isolated from the whole plants of Jatropha curcas L. (Euphorbiaceae). Their structures were determined with HRESIMS, IR, and NMR data analysis, and electronic circular [...] Read more.
Two new neolignans jatrolignans, C (1) and D (2), a pair of epimers, were isolated from the whole plants of Jatropha curcas L. (Euphorbiaceae). Their structures were determined with HRESIMS, IR, and NMR data analysis, and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) experiments via a comparison of the experimental and the calculated ECD spectra. Their antichlamydial activity was evaluated in Chlamydia abortus. They both showed dose-dependent antichlamydial effects. Significant growth inhibitory effects were observed at a minimum concentration of 40 μM. Full article
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12 pages, 1163 KiB  
Article
Lycorine Alkaloid and Crinum americanum L. (Amaryllidaceae) Extracts Display Antifungal Activity on Clinically Relevant Candida Species
by Lorene Coelho Silva, Amabel Fernandes Correia, João Victor Dutra Gomes, Wanderson Romão, Larissa Campos Motta, Christopher William Fagg, Pérola Oliveira Magalhães, Dâmaris Silveira and Yris Maria Fonseca-Bazzo
Molecules 2022, 27(9), 2976; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/molecules27092976 - 06 May 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1956
Abstract
Candida species are the main fungal agents causing infectious conditions in hospital patients. The development of new drugs with antifungal potential, increased efficacy, and reduced toxicity is essential to face the challenge of fungal resistance to standard treatments. The aim of this study [...] Read more.
Candida species are the main fungal agents causing infectious conditions in hospital patients. The development of new drugs with antifungal potential, increased efficacy, and reduced toxicity is essential to face the challenge of fungal resistance to standard treatments. The aim of this study is to evaluate the in vitro antifungal effects of two crude extracts of Crinum americanum L., a rich alkaloid fraction and lycorine alkaloid, on the Candida species. As such, we used a disk diffusion susceptibility test, determined the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), and characterized the components of the extracts using Electrospray Ionization Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry (ESI FT-ICR MS). The extracts were found to have antifungal activity against various Candida species. The chemical characterization of the extracts indicated the presence of alkaloids such as lycorine and crinine. The Amaryllidaceae family has a promising antifungal potential. Furthermore, it was found that the alkaloid lycorine directly contributes to the effects that were observed for the extracts and fraction of C. americanum. Full article
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12 pages, 1670 KiB  
Article
Effects of Allium sativum Stem Extract on Growth and Migration in Melanoma Cells through Inhibition of VEGF, MMP-2, and MMP-9 Genes Expression
by Da-Hye Gam, Jae-Hyun Park, Jun-Hee Kim, Dong-Ho Beak and Jin-Woo Kim
Molecules 2022, 27(1), 21; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/molecules27010021 - 21 Dec 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2775
Abstract
The present study investigated the effects of Allium sativum stem extract (ASE) on B16-F0 cell growth and metastasis. Evaluation of the effects of ASE on B16-F0 cells’ viability and migration showed that 0.5 mg/mL ASE inhibited B16-F0 cells’ growth by 30.2% and migration [...] Read more.
The present study investigated the effects of Allium sativum stem extract (ASE) on B16-F0 cell growth and metastasis. Evaluation of the effects of ASE on B16-F0 cells’ viability and migration showed that 0.5 mg/mL ASE inhibited B16-F0 cells’ growth by 30.2% and migration by 38.5%, which indicates that the ASE has anticancer and antimetastatic effects on B16-F0 cells. To study the anticancer and antimetastatic mechanism, mRNA levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), matrix metalloproteinases-2 (MMP-2), and matrix metalloproteinases-9 (MMP-9) expressions were evaluated with reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, and 0.25 and 0.5 mg/mL ASE was found to exert significant inhibition on mRNA expressions of VEGF, MMP-2, and MMP-9 in B16-F0 cells. Thus, ASE reduce extracellular matrix degradation through inhibitions of expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9, and also showed an angiogenesis inhibitory effect through reduction of VEGF expression. High-performance liquid chromatography analysis showed that among various polyphenols, gallic acid (2.1 mg/g) was a major compound of ASE. Overall, our results demonstrated that ASE inhibited the growth and migration of B16-F0 cells through downregulation of the VEGF, MMP-2, and MMP-9 genes expression, which indicates ASE could be applied for the prevention and treatment of melanoma. Full article
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16 pages, 3646 KiB  
Article
Effects of Sargassum thunbergii Extract on Skin Whitening and Anti-Wrinkling through Inhibition of TRP-1 and MMPs
by Da-Hye Gam, Jae-Hyun Park, Ji-Woo Hong, Seong-Jin Jeon, Jun-Hee Kim and Jin-Woo Kim
Molecules 2021, 26(23), 7381; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/molecules26237381 - 05 Dec 2021
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2184
Abstract
Sargassum thunbergii has been traditionally used as an edible and medicinal material in oriental countries. However, the skin-whitening and anti-wrinkling effects of S. thunbergii have not yet been investigated. This study was conducted to establish optimal extraction conditions for the production of bioactive [...] Read more.
Sargassum thunbergii has been traditionally used as an edible and medicinal material in oriental countries. However, the skin-whitening and anti-wrinkling effects of S. thunbergii have not yet been investigated. This study was conducted to establish optimal extraction conditions for the production of bioactive compounds with antioxidant activity as well as skin-whitening and anti-wrinkle effects using ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) in S. thunbergii. The extraction time (5.30~18.7 min), extraction temperature (22.4~79.6 °C), and ethanol concentration (0.0~99.5%), which are the main variables of the UAE, were optimized using a central composite design. Quadratic regression equations were derived based on experimental data and showed a high coefficient of determination (R2 > 0.85), demonstrating suitability for prediction. The optimal UAE condition for maximizing all dependent variables, including radical scavenging activity (RSA), tyrosinase inhibitory activity (TIA), and collagenase inhibitory activity (CIA), was identified as an extraction time of 12.0 min, an extraction temperature of 65.2 °C, and ethanol of 53.5%. Under these conditions, the RSA, TIA, and CIA of S. thunbergii extract were 86.5%, 88.3%, and 91.4%, respectively. We also confirmed S. thunbergii extract had inhibitory effects on the mRNA expression of tyrosinase-related protein-1, matrix metalloproteinase-1, and matrix metalloproteinase-9, which are the main genes of melanin synthesis and collagen hydrolysis. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was used to identify the main phenolic compounds in S. thunbergii extract, and caffeic acid was identified as a major peak, demonstrating that high value-added ingredients with skin-whitening and anti-wrinkling effects can be produced from S. thunbergii and used for developing cosmetic materials. Full article
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