Special Issue "Methods in Polyphenol Analysis"

Guest Editor
Dr. Renato Bruni
The φ2 Laboratory of Phytochemicals in Physiology, Department of Functional and Evolutive Biology, University of Parma, Viale G. Usberti 11a, 43100 Parma, Italy
E-Mail: renato.bruni@unipr.it
Interests: phytochemical analysis by means of chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques: GC, GC-MS, HPLC, 13C, 1H-NMR; pharmacognostic; chemical and DNA-based quality control in herbal drugs and plant foods; biotic and abiotic factors affecting secondary metabolite production in edible and medicinal plants; biological and pharmacological activity of plant extracts; ethnopharmacology and ethnobotany

Dear Colleagues,

Polyphenolic substances are likely the most protean class of natural compounds and great challenges lie behind their study. They play a relevant role in plant ecophysiology, counteracting a wide range of biotic and abiotic factors and their chemical and biological plasticity reverberates in a plethora of applicative uses. Plant-derived polyphenols are in fact multi-purpose substances whose exploitation ranges from phytocosmetics to nutraceuticals, from medicinal and edible plants to pharmaceuticals, from pigments and dyes to fine chemicals and allelochemicals of agronomic value. As a consequence of that, for both ecological, environmental, plant, food and health sciences a proper knowledge of polyphenol variability, abundance and role represents a key feature. The analytical determination of these secondary metabolites in different matrices and the evaluation of their biological properties are of crucial relevance also in a number of industrial fields.
As these topics have been the focus of many recent technological improvements, contributions for this special issue, both in form of original research and review articles, may cover the development, validation or the improvement of any new applied method devoted to the chemical (chromatographic, spectroscopic, metabolomic, chemometric and sensorial), biochemical and biological evaluation of polyphenolic substances in any crude or processed plant material, biological fluid and product (including foods, drugs, biomasses, herbal products, dyes, animal feeds and agroindustrial wastes). The presented methods must demonstrate their applicability on real samples and not exclusively on standard substances. Fingerprinting methods capable to monitor polyphenols during different production processes, during storage in crude drugs and finished products and capable to elucidate their fate in vivo (in both animals, plants and environment) will be particularly welcome. Review articles must cover the state-of-the-art and trends in the analysis of specific sub-classes of polyphenolic substances or the perspectives regarding the applicability of definite techniques. Authors considering the submission of a review are kindly asked to provide in advance to the guest editor a brief outline of the subject matter of their work.
Manuscripts regarding new methods for the evaluation of polyphenol bioactivity are also suitable for submission. In particular, innovative protocols and methods based on chemical or biological systems for the evaluation of in vivo and in vitro bioactivities of pure polyphenols and/or polyphenol-rich products or extracts will be taken into consideration, on condition that they are properly characterized from a phytochemical standpoint.

Dr. Renato Bruni
Guest Editor

Submission

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• polyphenols
• phytochemical analysis
• chromatography
• sectroscopy
• quality control
• fingerprinting
• bioactivity

Type of Paper: Review
Title: Analysis of Phenolics in Foods
Author: Department of Plant and Food Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia; E-Mails: akho8418@sydney.edu.au; meredith.wilkes@sydney.edu.au; thomas.roberts@sydney.edu.au
Abstract: Phenolic compounds are well-known phytochemicals found in all plants. This group of molecules consists of simple phenols, benzoic and cinnamic acids, coumarins, tannins, lignins, lignans and flavonoids. Substantial developments in research into the extraction, identification and quantification of phenolic compounds as medicinal and/or dietary molecules have occurred over the last 25 years. Organic solvent extraction is the main method used to extract phenolics. Traditional chemical procedures are used to detect the presence of total phenolics while spectrophotometric and chromatographic techniques are utilized to identify and quantify individual phenolic compounds. This review addresses the application of different methodologies for analysis of phenolic compounds in food, including recent technical developments in quantification of phenolics.

Type of Paper: Review
Title: Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing of Plant Polyphenolic Compounds: Current Methods and Future Directions and Needs
Authors: Marina Bubonja-Sonje^1,2 and Maja Abram ^1,2
Affiliations: ¹ Department of Clinical Microbiology, Clinical Hospital Rijeka, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia
² Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia
Abstract: Due to growing incidences of drug-resistant pathogens the antimicrobial properties of plant-derived polyphenols have recently become of great interest. Numerous reports show that polyphenolic substances may have a role as potential antimicrobial substances. However, several factors can influence antimicrobial susceptibility testing, and results comparability is largely dependent on the techniques employed. In general, testing methods provide reliable results when used according to the standard procedures. Due to the absence of standards for investigations of antimicrobial efficacy of polyphenols different guidelines used in assessment of antimicrobial activity of antibiotics are being applied. Thus, there is a need for development of standard and universal methods in assessment of antimicrobial activity of polyphenolic compounds. Polyphenolic extraction method can additionally influence results of antimicrobial activity testing. Moreover, to provide more meaningful prediction of antimicrobial efficacy in vivo the information obtained in vitro is necessary to combine with pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic data. This paper reviews different methods used in the assessment of polyphenols antimicrobial efficacy and their spectrum of activity.