Advances in Plant Bioactive Chemical Compounds

Dear Colleagues,

Plants are sessile organisms that possess a complex and sophisticated network of physiological, biochemical, and molecular strategies that ensure proper seed germination, healthy plant growth, and propagation in order to sustain their survival in many different challenging environments. Secondary metabolites, such as terpenoids, polyketides, flavonoids, benzophenones, coumarins, alkaloids, lignans, and glucosinolate, may confer plasticity to the organisms in biologically important processes. This may be related to the function of cells, tissues, and whole plants under optimum conditions, or it could also be related to responses to abiotic (temperature, water restriction, light, etc.) or biotic (fungi, bacteria, nematodes, insects, and viruses) stresses. In the meantime, many of the secondary metabolites that are produced by these plants may present relevant pharmacological properties that could be used to improve health or prevent/treat certain diseases. Thus, this Special Issue welcomes review and research papers dealing with the study of new bioactive compounds obtained from plant extracts (new or already-studied plants) that could help to advance our current knowledge on new pharmaceuticals, functional foods, nutraceuticals, botanicals, and dietary supplements.

Topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Isolation of novel compounds, preferably with new skeletons. Minor changes in already-known compounds could be considered if relevant biological activity is presented.
• Metabolomics characterization of bioactive plant extracts.
• Semi-synthesis or biotransformation of plant bioactive chemical compounds that may potentialize their biological activity.

Topics that will not be considered include the following:

• Bioactivity of plant extracts without an in-depth characterization of their chemical composition.
• Purely theoretical papers that contain only in silico studies.
• No relevant biological activities are presented.

Prof. Dr. Paulo Roberto Ribeiro
Prof. Dr. Ana Paulina Barba-de la Rosa
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. Plants 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.

• bioactive compounds
• isolation
• metabolomics
• NMR spectroscopy
• structural elucidation