Innovations in Green Extraction and Analytical Techniques for Bioactive Natural Products
A Special Issue of Pharmaceuticals (ISSN 1424-8247) belonging to the section "Natural Products".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 December 2026 | Viewed by 503
Editor
Interests: natural products; bioactive compounds; medicinal plants; omega 3 fatty acids
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Natural products remain a cornerstone of innovation in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, nutraceuticals, and cosmetics. Their structural diversity makes them an important source of pharmacophores and leads—especially when combined with modern dereplication, metabolomics, and targeted synthesis. However, traditional extraction and isolation methods often rely on time-consuming, exhaustive solvent use and energy-heavy processes that conflict with sustainability goals. In addition, reproducibility challenges arise from batch variability, matrix complexity, and methodological heterogeneity across laboratories and product types. This Special Issue emphasizes eco-friendly and green chemistry approaches, efficient isolation strategies, and high-resolution identification methodologies that will redefine how we extract, identify, and validate natural products, ensuring scientific rigor and environmental responsibility.
This Special Issue aims to bring together cutting-edge research and review articles on natural products with a strong emphasis on sustainability and innovation.
Topics include but are not limited to:
- Development and optimization of green extraction techniques (e.g., supercritical fluids, ultrasound-assisted, microwave-assisted extraction, and deep eutectic solvents).
- Novel isolation and purification strategies for bioactive compounds (countercurrent chromatography, membrane-based separations, orthogonal fractionation, and bioaffinity-guided workflows).
- Advanced identification methodologies (hyphenated techniques LC–MS/MS, GC–MS, LCxLC, GCxGC, NMR, chemometrics, metabolomics, and AI-enabled spectral interpretation).
- Quality control approaches ensuring safety, efficacy, and reproducibility of natural products.
- Applications in pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, and cosmetics.
Dr. Noelia Duarte
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
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-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pharmaceuticals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2900 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
- natural products
- green extraction techniques
- eco-friendly processes
- sustainable isolation methods
- analytical and preparative methodologies
- chromatographic techniques
- identification of bioactive compounds
- bioactivity
- quality control
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