Advances in Natural Polymers and Active Compounds: Extraction Methods and Applications
A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Biobased and Biodegradable Polymers".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 May 2025 | Viewed by 85
Special Issue Editors
Interests: polymeric (bionano)composites; biomaterials; biodegradation; polymer compatibility and biocompatibility; kinetics and thermodynamics of polymeric systems; food packaging, (active, bioactive, smart, (bio)degradable); drugs delivery; recovery of polymer wastes by destructive and non-destructive procedures ; environmental pollution and protection; smart polymers
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: extraction methods of natural polymers; tissue engineering; films; enzymatic hydrolysis; antioxidant activity; biodisponibility; regenerative materials; bioactive peptides; skin; scaffolds for skin repair; wound healing; nutraceutical beverages; food supplement; hydration of the skin and anti-inflamatory properties
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: natural polymers; cellulose; lignin; hemicelulose; nanaomaterials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Natural polymers (biopolymers) and (bio)active compounds derived from natural biomass can be obtained from a wide variety of natural, eco-friendly and biocompatible green sources, including plants, animals, microorganisms (bacteria, fungi), and algae in aquatic media, as well as from very diverse by-products and waste streams, by applying corresponding extraction (processing) procedures. Natural polymers are gaining interest among the research community as attractive materials with mechanical stability, film formation properties, a lack of toxicity, and a high compatibility and biocompatibility with the extra cellular matrix, and which are safe, low-cost, some of them exhibit a high antimicrobial, antioxidant, antitumor and anti-inflammatory activities, etc. These lend themselves to a wide range of applications for agriculture (e.g., water holding agents), food (food supplements, nutraceutical beverages) and food packaging (active, smart, biodegradable, eco-friendly, edible, etc), biomedicine (greater cellular attachment and matrix deposition in anticancer therapy, bone tissue engineering, drug carriers/nanocarriers, etc.), cosmetics (for skin repair, regeneration and hydration), etc. They are classified mainly into three groups: polysaccharides, peptides, and polynucleotides.
(Bio)active compounds as natural antimicrobial/antioxidants of various origins are being developed for biopreservation, which includes plant-derived products (natural extracts, essential oils, polyphenolics, and plant antimicrobial peptides (pAMPs)), certain foods (such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, oils, and whole grains), animal-derived products (lysozymes, lactoperoxidase, lactoferrin, ovotransferrin, etc.), and microbial metabolites (nisin, natamycin, pullulan, ε-polylysine, organic acid, and others). Moreover, bioactive compounds extracted from the same natural sources as biopolymers are used for their valuable therapeutic biological properties and as antimicrobial agents to inhibit the harmful activity of bacteria, fungi, and viruses, and are especially known for their biocompatibility, renewability, and biodegradability, etc., having numerous applications. Bioactive compounds have actions in the body that may promote good health. They are being studied in the prevention of cancer, heart disease, and other diseases. Active agents are used in advanced polymeric materials to improve their functionality for food preservation, biomedicine, cosmetics as antimicrobials, antifungals, antioxidants, ethylene or oxygen scavengers, CO2 emitters or scavengers, moisture scavengers, flavour emitters, etc. Natural extracts and essential oil (EO) vitamins, polyphenols, carotenoids, etc., are excellent for their various matrices to obtain biocomposites with special properties.
This Special Issue welcomes the submission of original articles or reviews from an extensive range of expertise in the field of natural polymers and natural active compounds with its widely ranging subject matter. It aims to advance understandings of the fundamental and technological aspects of the extraction of natural products, polymers, and active compounds, and their applications.
Prof. Dr. Cornelia Vasile
Dr. Gabriel Aguirre-Álvarez
Dr. Xiao-Feng Sun
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. Polymers 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
- natural polymers
- (bio)active compound
- collagen
- gelatin
- hyaluronic acid
- starch
- cellulose
- pectin
- dextran
- pullulan
- chitin
- chitosan
- alginate
- guar gum
- xanthan
- casein
- albumin
- natural extract
- essential oils
- antimicrobial peptides
- food
- biomedicine
- pharmaceutic
- agriculture
- cosmetic
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