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Dear Colleagues,

Recently, there has been a huge interest in using natural-based substances, such as vegetal extracts and plant essential oils, for their promising biological activity, as reported by several researchers all over the world. No doubt that, plant-based substances are powerful source of bioactive molecules for several uses in agriculture, medicine, and cosmetic industry.

Different plant extracts and their single molecules demonstrate effective antimicrobial activity against several common phyto- and food pathogens. Furthermore, the capacity of different plant essential oils (PEOs) obtained from different plant species has been reported as valuable alternatives to synthetic pesticides in controlling serious post-harvest diseases.

On the other hand, several PEOs and vegetal extracts did not show phytotoxic and cytotoxic effects hence their uses can highly minimize the risk of collateral effects against beneficial and non-target organisms. In addition, the usage of natural substances can lower the probability of multidrug-resistant microorganisms appearing.

The aim of this Special Issue is to attract interesting research and review articles covering the most important and more-advanced methodological techniques for extraction, chemical characterization, and bio-pharmaceutical properties, such as: cytotoxic, phytotoxic, antioxidant, and anti-acetylcholinesterase activities of the major single constituents of the plant extracts or essential oils, such phenolic compounds, terpenes—or mono terpenoids, amino acids, etc. Research focusing on the details of chemical structure of the single substances will be highly considered for this Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. Hazem Salaheldin Elshafie
Prof. Dr. Ippolito Camele
Guest Editors

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Keywords

natural products
alternative medicine
bioactive single substances
antimicrobial activity
bio-pharmaceutical properties
phytopathogens
human diseases

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 1008 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spectroscopic Analyses and Antimicrobial Activity of Novel Ciprofloxacin and 7-Hydroxy-4-methylcoumarin, the Plant-Based Natural Benzopyrone Derivative

by Mohamed S. El-Attar, Sadeek A. Sadeek, Sherif M. Abd El-Hamid and Hazem S. Elshafie

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(14), 8019; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23148019 - 20 Jul 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1428

Abstract

Coumarin is highly distributed in nature, notably in higher plants. The biological features of coumarin include antibacterial, anticancer and antioxidant effects. It is well known that metal ions present in complexes accelerate the drug action and the efficacy of organic therapeutic agents. The main aim of the current study is the synthesis of different complexes of the interaction between ciprofloxacin hydrochloride (CIP) and coumarin derivative 7-hydroxy-4-methylcoumarin (HMC) with Zr(IV). The chelates of CIP with Zr(IV) were prepared and characterized by elemental analysis, melting point, conductance measurements, spectroscopic techniques involving IR, UV-Vis, ¹H NMR, and thermal behavior (TG-DTG) in the presence of HMC, dimethylformamide (DMF), pyridine (Py), and triethylamine (Et₃N). Results of molar conductivity tests showed that the new synthesized complexes are electrolytes with a 1:1 or 1:2 electrolyte ratio, with the chloride ions functioning as counter ions. According to IR spectra, CIP acts as a neutral bidentate ligand with Zr(IV) through one carboxylato oxygen and the carbonyl group, HMC as a monodentate through the carbonyl group, and DMF through the oxygen atom of the carbonyl group and the N atom of Py and Et₃N. The thermal behavior of the complexes was carefully investigated using TG and DTG techniques. TG findings signal that water molecules are found as hydrated and coordinated. The thermal decomposition mechanisms proposed for CIP, HMC, and Zr(IV) complexes are discussed and the activation energies (E_a), Gibbs free energies (∆G*), entropies (∆S*), and enthalpies (∆H*) of thermal decomposition reactions have been calculated using Coats–Redfern (CR) and Horowitz–Metzeger (HM) methods. The studied complexes were tested against some human pathogens and phytopathogens, including three Gram-positive bacteria (Bacillus subtilis, B. cereus, Brevibacterium otitidis) and three Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichiacoli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae), and compared to the free CIP and HMC parent compounds. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biochemical Studies on Bioactive Single Constituents Extracted from Plant against Human or Phyto-Pathogens)

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Review

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20 pages, 975 KiB

Open AccessReview

A Comprehensive Review on the Biological, Agricultural and Pharmaceutical Properties of Secondary Metabolites Based-Plant Origin

by Hazem S. Elshafie, Ippolito Camele and Amira A. Mohamed

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(4), 3266; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24043266 - 07 Feb 2023

Cited by 41 | Viewed by 5373

Abstract

Natural products are compounds produced by living organisms and can be divided into two main categories: primary (PMs) and secondary metabolites (SMs). Plant PMs are crucial for plant growth and reproduction since they are directly involved in living cell processes, whereas plant SMs are organic substances directly involved in plant defense and resistance. SMs are divided into three main groups: terpenoids, phenolics and nitrogen-containing compounds. The SMs contain a variety of biological capabilities that can be used as flavoring agents, food additives, plant-disease control, strengthen plant defenses against herbivores and, additionally, it can help plant cells to be better adapted to the physiological stress response. The current review is mainly focusing on certain key elements related to the significance, biosynthesis, classification, biochemical characterization and medical/pharmaceutical uses of the major categories of plant SMs. In addition, the usefulness of SMs in controlling plant diseases, boosting plant resistance and as potential natural, safe, eco-friendly substitutes for chemosynthetic pesticides were also reported in this review. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biochemical Studies on Bioactive Single Constituents Extracted from Plant against Human or Phyto-Pathogens)

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