Chemical Characterizations and Biological Activities of Plant Products and By-Products and Their Applications, 2nd Edition

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Phytochemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2026 | Viewed by 651

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Instituto de Bioprospección y Fisiología Vegetal (INBIOFIV-CONICET-UNT), San Miguel de Tucumán T4000CBG, Tucumán, Argentina
Interests: natural products; bioactive compounds; biocompounds extraction; sustainable use of waste; food preservation product development; food products development; phytocosmetic product development; cosmetic product development; phytotherapic product development
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
1. Instituto de Bioprospección y Fisiología Vegetal (INBIOFIV-CONICET-UNT), San Miguel de Tucumán T4000CBG, Tucumán, Argentina
2. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e IML, Miguel Lillo 205, San Miguel de Tucumán T4000, Tucumán, Argentina
Interests: natural products; agricultural by-products/wastes; biological activities; toxicity and genotoxicity; isolation and chemical characterization; food products development; phytocosmetic and herbal products development
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Instituto de Bioprospección y Fisiología Vegetal (INBIOFIV-CONICET-UNT), San Miguel de Tucumán T4000CBG, Tucumán, Argentina
2. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e IML, Miguel Lillo 205, San Miguel de Tucumán T4000, Tucumán, Argentina
Interests: natural products; bioactive compounds; biocompounds extraction, isolation and characterization; sustainable use of waste; food preservation; phytocosmetic product development; cosmetic product development; food products development
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Contributions to this Special Issue should relate to the phytochemical characterizations and biological activities/functional properties of bioactive compounds obtained from native and cultivated aromatic, medicinal, and food plants. Furthermore, bioactive compounds can be extracted from their by-products or residual biomasses. The main solvents used for the extraction of bioactive compounds should be environmentally friendly, and the extraction methods used may be conventional or unconventional. This Special Issue aims to promote circular extraction processes. The topics in this Special Issue also include the applications of bioactive compounds as functional ingredients for modern medicinal drug and cosmetic product development to improve the quality of crops and for environmental protection. The use of total extracts or fractions obtained from plants as functional ingredients for different applications is an emerging research area that needs to be highlighted.

Therefore, we invite you to submit research and review articles relevant to the field.

The Special Issue is now open for submissions

Dr. María Alejandra Moreno
Dr. Iris Catiana Zampini
Prof. Dr. Mariá Inés Isla
Guest Editors

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-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Plants 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

  • plant extract
  • by-products or waste
  • bioactive compounds
  • functional ingredients
  • phytotherapic products
  • phytocosmetic products
  • food products
  • food preservation products
  • environmental protection products

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Related Special Issue

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

16 pages, 2382 KB  
Article
Impact of Daily and Seasonal Variation on the Phytochemical Profile of Larrea cuneifolia in Northwestern Argentina
by María Celeste Barrera, Mariana Daniela Rosa, Iris Catiana Zampini and María Inés Isla
Plants 2025, 14(21), 3332; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14213332 - 31 Oct 2025
Viewed by 453
Abstract
Larrea cuneifolia Cav. (common name: jarilla macho) is an endemic Argentinian medicinal shrub that has traditionally been used by the Diaguita-Calchaquí communities in the Monte Desert region in northwestern Argentina. The aim of the present study was to analyze the phytochemical profile and [...] Read more.
Larrea cuneifolia Cav. (common name: jarilla macho) is an endemic Argentinian medicinal shrub that has traditionally been used by the Diaguita-Calchaquí communities in the Monte Desert region in northwestern Argentina. The aim of the present study was to analyze the phytochemical profile and biological activity of the aerial parts of jarilla collected in different places throughout the year, in different seasons and times of day, to determine the optimal harvesting conditions for promoting its medicinal use. The aerial parts were collected three times a day over the course of four seasons in eight L. cuneifolia populations. The total phenolic compounds (TPCs), total flavonoid (TF) content, total lignans (TL), sugars (S) and soluble protein (SP) content were quantified by using spectrophotometric methods and HPLC-DAD. Antioxidant activity was determined by using ABTS scavenging. Significant seasonal, diurnal and spatial variations in the accumulation of TPC (52.61 to 113.52 mg GAE/g), TF (3.71 to 17.92 mg QE/g), TL (283 to 582 μg NDHGAE/g); S (5.73 to 15.17 mg GE/g) and SP (36.75 to 103.10 mg BSAE/g) in aerial parts of L. cuneifolia were revealed. The highest concentrations of TPC and TF were recorded in spring mornings. Maximum accumulation of nordihydroguaiaretic acid (291.8 ± 2.8 μg NDHGAE/mg dry weight) and other lignans were also observed in spring. Heat map analyses pinpoint Ampimpa (Site 1) as a site for jarilla sustainable harvesting, balancing high metabolite content with population abundance, especially in spring, when the highest antioxidant activity (SC50 = 1.560 ± 0.021 μg GAE/mL) coincides with increased phenol levels. These studies highlight the importance of integrating ecological and phytochemical data to define harvesting strategies; collecting during spring mornings optimizes the yield of bioactive compounds, simultaneously minimizing ecological pressure. This study demonstrates how seasonal bioprospecting can inform pharmacological research and local development while safeguarding the endemic plant population. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop