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Green Valorization of Food By‑Products: Bioactive Molecules and Food‑Grade Delivery Systems

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2026 | Viewed by 15

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Unidade Académica Engenharia de Alimentos, Universidade Federal Campina Grande, Av. Aprigio Veloso 882, Campina Grande 58400-900, Paraiba, Brazil
Interests: food science and technology; encapsulation; spray drying; food preservation
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue of Molecules spotlights the sustainable valorization of food and agro‑industrial by‑products as sources of high‑value molecules and green delivery systems. We welcome studies that couple explorations of eco‑efficient extraction (cold pressing, pressurized liquids, ultrasound, microwave, and supercritical and subcritical fluids) with rigorous molecular characterization of phenolics, terpenes, lipids, peptides, and polysaccharides. Submissions may also address purification, structure–activity relationships, and the bioefficacy of recovered compounds in antioxidant, antimicrobial, or anti‑inflammatory models. A particular interest is the design of food‑grade encapsulation and delivery platforms—spray‑dried microcapsules, complex coacervates, nanoemulsions, cyclodextrin inclusion complexes, and ionotropic gelation systems—that stabilize sensitive active compounds and enable controlled release in foods, nutraceuticals, and active packaging. Works that integrate circular‑bioeconomy metrics (mass/energy balances, green chemistry indicators), shelf‑life testing, or in silico prediction of stability and release (e.g., QSAR, diffusion modeling) are especially encouraged. Case studies using seeds, peels, pomace, and other side streams from fruits and vegetables are welcome, as are comparative assessments across botanical sources. We invite original research, communications, and critical reviews that advance extraction‑to‑application pipelines and demonstrate robust analytical validation and reproducibility.

Dr. Hugo Miguel Lisboa Oliveira
Guest Editor

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. Molecules 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

  • valorization
  • food
  • agro‑industrial by‑product
  • fruit
  • vegetable
  • botanical
  • delivery
  • encapsulation
  • extraction
  • characterization
  • cold pressing
  • pressurized liquids
  • ultrasound
  • microwave
  • supercritical
  • subcritical
  • phenolic
  • terpene
  • lipid
  • peptide
  • polysaccharide
  • purification
  • structure–activity relationship
  • bioefficacy
  • antioxidant
  • antimicrobial
  • anti‑inflammatory
  • spray‑dried microcapsule
  • complex coacervate
  • nanoemulsion
  • cyclodextrin inclusion complex
  • ionotropic gelation system
  • controlled release
  • nutraceutical
  • active packaging
  • circular‑bioeconomy metrics
  • shelf‑life
  • in silico

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Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission.
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