*2.2. Plant Material*

Freshly cut *Aloe vera* samples (leaves and flowers) of certified organic production were supplied by "aCoruela do Alentejo," a company located in the parish of São BráseSão Lourenço, municipality of Elvas, Portugal. Twelve three-year-old leaves with about 10 cm × 45 cm were weighed, and the green rind was separated from the inner fillet with a knife. Then, the transparent slippery exudate consisting mainly of gel was collected from the mucilage layer of the outer leaf pulp adjacent to the

rind. The weight of the different leaf parts was determined to calculate the weight percentage (wt%). A batch of each plant part (fillet, mucilage, rind, and flower) was then lyophilized (FreeZone 4.5, Labconco, Kansas City, MO, USA), reduced to a fine powder (~20 mesh), and homogenized to obtain a representative sample that was kept at −20 ◦C until analysis.
