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Recent Advances in Extraction, Phytochemical Analysis and Bioactivity of Nonfood Plants with Well Established Relationships with Humans

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 November 2021) | Viewed by 17151

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Dr. Valtcho Jeliazkov

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Department of Crop and Soil Science, 431A Crop Science Building, 3050 SW Campus Way, Oregon, State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Filippo Maggi

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School of Pharmacy, University of Camerino, 62032 Camerino, Italy
Interests: medicinal and aromatic plants; essential oils; green extraction; phytochemistry; bioactivity
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Tessema Astatkie

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Department of Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Dalhousie University, Truro, NS B2N 5E3, Canada
Interests: design and analysis of experiments; linear and nonlinear regression; other statistical methods

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As we know, medicinal and aromatic plants are important mainly because they contain plant secondary metabolites (such as essential oils, alkaloids, glycosides, saponins, tannins, vitamins, and other bioactives). While plant secondary metabolites are produced by pathways derived from primary metabolites, they do not play a direct role in the growth and development of the plant cells but, rather, have roles associated with plant protection and defense mechanisms.

Medicinal and aromatic plants have been used by humankind for a long time. Every traditional medicine system (e.g., Ayurveda, Siddha medicine, Unani, ancient Iranian medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, traditional African medicine, and traditional Korean medicine) may include hundreds to thousands of medicinal plants used for various forms of herbal medicine or for the production of extracts and pure chemicals that are being used by modern medicine for treatment, or prevention of various diseases.

However, there are some medicinal and aromatic plant species that have established special relationships with humans; these plants and their products have been utilized by humankind for centuries or millennia and are still some of the most utilized species and sources for plant natural products in modern times. This Special Issue will focus on “Recent Advances in Extraction, Phytochemical Analysis, and Bioactivity of Non-Food Plants with Well-Established Relationships with Humans”. These include tobacco (Nicotiana sp), hops (Humulus lupulus), hemp (Cannabis sativa), coffee (Coffea arabica), cacao (Theobroma cacao), tea (Camellia sinensis), cinchona (Cinchona officinalis), and opium poppy (Papaver somniferum).

Dr. Valtcho Jeliazkov
Prof. Dr. Filippo Maggi
Prof. Dr. Tessema Astatkie
Guest Editors

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Keywords

Green chemistry
Innovative extraction
Dual utilization
Biopesticides

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 315 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Grinding and Fractionation during Distillation Alter Hemp Essential Oil Profile and Its Antimicrobial Activity

by Valtcho D. Zheljazkov, Vladimir Sikora, Ivanka B. Semerdjieva, Miroslava Kačániová, Tess Astatkie and Ivayla Dincheva

Molecules 2020, 25(17), 3943; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25173943 - 28 Aug 2020

Cited by 27 | Viewed by 4007

Abstract

The hypothesis of this study was that we can modify the essential oil (EO) profile of hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) and obtain fractions with differential composition and antimicrobial activity. Therefore, the objective was to evaluate the effects of grinding of hemp biomass before EO extraction and fractionation during distillation on EO profile and antimicrobial activity. The study generated a several EO fractions with a diversity of chemical profile and antimicrobial activity. The highest concentrations of β-pinene and myrcene in the EO can be obtained in the 5–10 min distillation time (DT) of ground material or in the 80–120 min DT of nonground material. High δ-3-carene and limonene EO can be obtained from 0–5 min DT fraction of nonground material. High eucalyptol EO can be sampled either in the 0–5 min DT of the ground material or in the 80–120 min of nonground material. Overall, the highest concentrations of β-caryophyllene, α-(E)-bergamotene, (Z)-β-farnesene, α-humulene, caryophyllenyl alcohol, germacrene D-4-ol, spathulenol, caryophyllene oxide, humulene epoxide 2, β-bisabolol, α-bisabolol, sesquiterpenes, and cannabidiol (CBD) can be obtained when EO is sampled in the 80–120 min DT and the material is nonground. Monoterpenes in the hemp EO can be increased twofold to 85% by grinding the material prior to distillation and collecting the EO in the first 10 min. However, grinding resulted in a slight but significant decrease in the CBD concentration of the EO. CBD-rich oil can be produced by collecting at 120–180 min DT. Different EO fractions had differential antimicrobial activity. The highest antimicrobial activity of EO fraction was found against Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus. THC-free EO can be obtained if the EO distillation is limited to 120 min. The results can be utilized by the hemp processing industry and by companies developing new hemp EO-infused products, including perfumery, cosmetics, dietary supplements, food, and pharmaceutical industries. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Extraction, Phytochemical Analysis and Bioactivity of Nonfood Plants with Well Established Relationships with Humans)

17 pages, 3289 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Ultra-Micro-Scale-Fractionation (UMSF) as a Powerful Tool for Bioactive Molecules Discovery

by Jason L. McCallum, Jennifer N. D. Vacon and Christopher W. Kirby

Molecules 2020, 25(16), 3677; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25163677 - 12 Aug 2020

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2658

Abstract

Herein is detailed the development and validation of an ultra-micro-scale-fractionation (UMSF) technique for the discovery of plant-based, bioactive molecules, coupling the advantages of ultra-performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS) separations with microtiter plate-based bioassay screens. This novel one-step approach simultaneously uses UPLC to collect chemical profile information, while performing high-resolution fractionation, greatly improving workflow compared to methods relying on high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), solid phase extraction or flash systems for chromatographic separations. Using the UMSF technique, researchers are able to utilize smaller quantities of starting materials, reduce solvent consumption during fractionation, reduce laborious solvent dry down times, replace costly single-use solid-phase-extraction cartridges with reusable analytical-sale UPLC columns, reduce fractionation times to less than 10 min, while simultaneously generating chemical profile data of active fractions and enjoying superior chromatographic resolution. Using this technique, individual bioactive components can be readily purified, identified, and bioassayed in one step from crude extracts, thereby eliminating ambiguous synergistic effects often reported in plant-based natural products research. A successful case-study is presented illustrating the versatility of this technique in identifying lupulone as the principal cytotoxic component from hops (Humulus lupulus L.), using a brine shrimp (Artemia franciscana) model. These results confirm and expand upon previous cell-based bioassay studies using a more complex, multicellular organism, and add to our understanding of structure-function activity relationships for secondary metabolites in hops and the Cannabaceae plant family. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Extraction, Phytochemical Analysis and Bioactivity of Nonfood Plants with Well Established Relationships with Humans)

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22 pages, 965 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Characterization of Odor-Active Compounds, Polyphenols, and Fatty Acids in Coffee Silverskin

by Simone Angeloni, Serena Scortichini, Dennis Fiorini, Gianni Sagratini, Sauro Vittori, Silva D. Neiens, Martin Steinhaus, Valtcho D. Zheljazkov, Filippo Maggi and Giovanni Caprioli

Molecules 2020, 25(13), 2993; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25132993 - 30 Jun 2020

Cited by 23 | Viewed by 4628

Abstract

For the first time the volatile fraction of coffee silverskin has been studied focusing on odor-active compounds detected by gas chromatography-olfactometry/flame ionization detector (GC-O/FID) system. Two approaches, namely headspace (HS) analysis by solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (SPME-GC-MS) and odor-active compounds analysis by gas chromatography-olfactometry/flame ionization detector (GC-O/FID), have been employed to fully characterize the aroma profile of this by-product. This work also provided an entire characterization of the bioactive compounds present in coffee silverskin, including alkaloids, chlorogenic acids, phenolic acids, flavonoids, and secoiridoids, by using different extraction procedures and high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) system. Coffee silverskin was shown to be a good source of caffeine and chlorogenic acids but also of phenolic acids and flavonoids. In addition, the fatty acid composition of the coffee silverskin was established by GC-FID system. The results from this research could contribute to the development of innovative applications and reuses of coffee silverskin, an interesting resource with a high potential to be tapped by the food and nutraceutical sector, and possibly also in the cosmetics and perfumery. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Extraction, Phytochemical Analysis and Bioactivity of Nonfood Plants with Well Established Relationships with Humans)

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15 pages, 1182 KiB

Open AccessArticle

GC-MS Composition and Olfactory Profile of Concretes from the Flowers of Four Nicotiana Species

by Venelina Popova, Tanya Ivanova, Albena Stoyanova, Violeta Nikolova, Tsveta Hristeva and Valtcho D. Zheljazkov

Molecules 2020, 25(11), 2617; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25112617 - 04 Jun 2020

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4879

Abstract

The genus Nicotiana (Solanaceae) includes over 70 species, with a long history of traditional use; many of them are nowadays used in bioengineering, biosynthesis, molecular biology, and other studies, while common tobacco, N. tabacum L., is one of the most economically important industrial crops worldwide. Although Nicotiana species have been extensively investigated, relatively less research has focused on flowers, especially research related to obtaining aromatic products for cosmetic and perfumery use. On the other hand, there is evidence that Nicotiana flowers accumulate various secondary metabolites with a distinct aroma and biological activities, and the flowers represent a biomass available in sufficient quantities. Therefore, this study aimed to determinate the chemical composition (by GC-MS) and the olfactory profiles of a specific type of natural aromatic product (concrete), obtained from the flowers of four Nicotiana species, in a direct comparison between them. The yields of extracted concrete were sufficiently high, varying between the species, 1.4% (N. rustica L.), 2.5% (N. glutinosa L.), 1.6% (N. alata Link&Otto genotype with white flowers), 2.7% (N. alata genotype with pink flowers), 3.2% (N. tabacum, Oriental type), and 5.2% (N. tabacum, Virginia type). The major components of the obtained concretes belonged to different chemical classes: N. rustica and N. tabacum (OR), the hydrocarbons n-tetratriacontane (14.5%; 15.0%) and n-triacontane (12.1%; 13.3%), and 3-methyl-pentanoic acid (11.1%; 12.2%); N. glutinosa, the diterpenes sclareol (25.9%), 3-α-hydroxy-manool (16.3%), and 13-epimanool (14.9%); N. alata (WF), the phenylpropanoid terephthalic acid and di(2-ethylhexyl) ester (42.9%); N. alata (PF), the diterpene tributyl acetylcitrate (30.7%); and N. tabacum (FCV), the hydrocarbons n-hexacosane (12.9%) and n-pentacosane (12.9%). Each of the flower concretes revealed a characteristic odor profile. This is the first report about Nicotiana species as a source for obtaining flower concretes; these initial results about the concrete yield, olfactory profile, and chemical composition are a prerequisite for the possible processing of Nicotiana flowers into new aromatic products for use in perfumery and cosmetics. The study provides new data in favor of the potential of the four Nicotiana species as aromatic plants, as well as a possible alternative use of flowers, a valuable, but discarded, plant material in other applications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Extraction, Phytochemical Analysis and Bioactivity of Nonfood Plants with Well Established Relationships with Humans)

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