Plant-Based Bioactive Compounds, Their Technological and Physiological Functions, and Analytical Methods

Dear Colleagues,

Numerous plants are valuable sources of high-added-value bioactive compounds and/or their precursors. The latter, which can be converted in vitro into bioactive compounds during food, feed, nutraceutical and pharmaceutical processes, are not directly found (or found in low concentrations) in plant raw materials. Many of these compounds (bioactive compounds, as well as their precursors) are beneficial for human’s and animal’s health and have been extensively studied by the scientific community. However, to date, systemized data about these compounds in raw materials, their conversion during technological processing, as well as their functionality, i.e., their biological activity and technological functionality, in the end-products are limited. Moreover, the analytical methods used for the extraction, concentration, separation and characterization of bioactive compounds are limited and, therefore, are currently receiving considerable attention from researchers worldwide. For instance, because of the limited characteristics of processing extraction procedures and the type of extractants (some of them are not selective enough and, often, in addition to bioactive compounds, toxic compounds are extracted and concentrated in the extracts), analytical methods of extraction, separation and identification of plant-based extracts are decisively a hotspot in biotechnology research. This Special Issue of Plants (MDPI) will highlight the variety of plant bioactive compounds and their precursors, their potential technological features, their changes during the food processing and their health benefits. Furthermore, submissions exploring novel and more sensitive, selective, cost-effective and environmentally friendly analytical techniques towards the characterization of plant-based compounds are very welcome in this Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. Elena Bartkienė
Dr. João Miguel F. Rocha
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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.