Bioactive Compounds in Food and Plants: Phytochemical Analysis, Structural Elucidation, Biological Properties and Therapeutic Potential
A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Natural Products Chemistry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2026
Special Issue Editors
Interests: natural products chemistry; bioactive secondary metabolites; mass spectrometry; lipidomics; structural elucidation; NMR
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The increasing global interest in natural bioactive compounds stems from their unique structural architectures, as well as from their impressive broad spectrum of activities, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticancer, antimicrobial and antifungal mechanisms. Specialized secondary metabolites from food and plants, including those used in traditional medicine, are crucial for health promotion and offer significant protection against the development of various chronic disorders.
Valuable compounds are recovered from diverse plant parts—such as flowers, fruits, leaves, roots—as well as from agro-industrial waste and by-products, representing sustainable resources. In addition, plant metabolites are employed as food preservatives or additives for other interesting functions such as nutrient supplement, colorants, flavorings and sweeteners.
This Special Issue focuses on the identification, isolation and structural elucidation of bioactive compounds; the evaluation of their biological activity; the characterization, bioactivity and utility of well-defined plant extracts; and the potential applications of natural products across various sectors, such as the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical fields.
Dr. Adele Cutignano
Guest Editor
Dr. Giulia De Simone
Guest Editor Assistant
Manuscript Submission Information
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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
- medicinal plants
- food
- food waste
- plant by-products
- bioactive metabolites and lipids
- NMR spectroscopy
- mass spectrometry
- biological activity
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