Special Issue "Phytochemicals with Signaling, Medicinal and Therapeutic Properties"

Guest Editor
Dr. Liya Ge
National Institute of Education (NIE), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore
E-Mail:
Interests: analytical & bioanalytical chemistry; polymer chemistry & polymer chemical engineering

Guest Editor
Dr. Swee Ngin Tan
National Institute of Education (NIE), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore
E-Mail:
Interests: separation science; electrochemistry; phytoremediation and development of green solvent techniques

Guest Editor
Dr. Jean W. H. Yong
National Institute of Education (NIE), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore
E-Mail:
Interests: growth regulators/hormones and especially cytokinins for plant sciences and cancer-therapy; green life sciences

Dear Colleagues,

As the endogenous constituents of plants, phytochemicals often play essential roles in plant survival, growth and reproduction. A variety of phytochemicals are involved in protection against herbivores, microorganisms, and competitors; regulate growth; and control pollination, fertilization and the rhizosphere environment. Moreover, many isolated phytochemicals and their derivatives also promote human health. Indeed, extensive amount of clinical trials have evaluated phytochemicals for their efficacy in preventing various diseases, such as some types of cancer. The Special Issue on "Phytochemicals with signaling, medicinal and therapeutic properties", therefore, will contain the original research and review articles on the all areas of phytochemicals, mainly including extraction, isolation, characterization, cellular signaling and transport pathways, medicinal applications, and therapeutic effects of phytochemicals.

Dr. Jean W. H. Yong
Dr. Liya Ge
Dr. Swee Ngin Tan
Guest Editors

Submission

• phytochemicals
• extraction
• characterization
• biological activity
• medicinal property
• therapeutic effect

Title: Supramolecular Self-Assembled Chaos: Lignin’s Barrier to Cost-effective Biofuels
Authors: Komandoor Elayavalli Achyuthan ^1,2, Ann Mary Achyuthan ³, Paul David Adams ^1,4, Blake Alexander Simmons ^1,5 and Anup Kumar Singh ^1,5
Affiliations: ¹ Joint Bioenergy Institute, Emeryville, CA 94450, USA; kachyut@sandia.gov (K.E.A.)
² Biosensors and Nanomaterials Department, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM 87185, USA,
³ Biology Department, Northern New Mexico College, Espanola, NM 87532, USA,
⁴ Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories, Berkeley, CA 94720 and 5Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, CA 94550, USA
Abstract: Lignin is a major barrier to the production of cost-effective biofuels. Lignin is the second most abundant biopolymer on Earth; yet its mode of assembly is unclear. Whereas much focus has been on the biochemical machinery catalyzing lignin biosynthesis, post-synthesis assembly is rather opaque. The phenylpropanoid metabolism yields a mixture of molecules that become chaotic due to non-enzymatic reactions such as dehydrogenative free radical polymerization (DHP) of precursor molecules (monolignols), redox shuttle mediators (RSMs) and supramolecular self-assembly. Features most defying an understanding are the non-biologically driven spontaneous self-assemblies yielding the lignin macromolecular polymer with random and highly branched topology and fractal properties. Self-assembly, dynamic self-organization and aggregation give rise to the crosslinked, complex 3-D network of lignin. Attempts to isolate biomass lignin, analogous to Archaeology, become instantly destructive and non-representative of plant physiology. Lack of well documented, authentic plant “ligninases” also frustrates a better understanding of lignin assembly. Supramolecular self-assembly of lignin, nano-mechanical properties of lignin-lignin interactions, aggregation and the association/dissociation kinetics of lignin precursors, all impact biomass deconstruction strategies and the production of cost-effective biofuels.