Phytochemistry and Bioactivities of Plant Extracts

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2026 | Viewed by 636

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Escuela de Alimentos, Facultad de Ciencias Agronómicas y de los Alimentos, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Waddington 716, Playa Ancha, Valparaíso 2362807, Chile
Interests: new food processing technology; extraction processes for bioactive compounds; food dehydration; supercritical fluid extraction; extraction
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Guest Editor
Institute for Agri-Food and Agro-Environmental Research and Innovation (CIAGRO-UMH), Miguel Hernández University of Elche, Carretera de Beniel, km 3.2, 03312 Orihuela, Alicante, Spain
Interests: functional food; probiotics; in vitro digestion; food by-products; sustainability
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Plant extracts remain a key source of secondary metabolites with high potential for applications in human health, agriculture, and food technologies. This Special Issue invites contributions that integrate modern phytochemistry (targeted and untargeted profiling, metabolomics, chemometrics) with the evaluation of bioactivities (antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antidiabetic, and neuroprotective, among others) and, where possible, with mechanistic evidence and biological validation. We encourage work on ‘green’ extraction (ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE), microwave-assisted extraction (MAE), pressurized liquid extraction (PLE)/accelerated solvent extraction (ASE), subcritical water extraction (SWE)/pressurized hot water extraction (PHWE), enzyme-assisted extraction (EAE), deep eutectic solvent extraction (DES/NADES), ionic liquid-based extraction (ILs), hydrodistillation/steam distillation, membrane-based separation (UF/NF/RO), guided fractionation/bioassay, structural identification (LC-MS/MS, GC-MS, and NMR, among others), bioavailability and safety studies, as well as applications in food matrices, cosmetics, or bioactive materials. Critical reviews discussing trends, robust methodologies, and knowledge gaps to advance towards standardized and reproducible extracts are also welcome.

Dr. Jéssica López Pastén
Dr. Débora Cerdá-Bernad
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • plant extracts
  • phytochemistry
  • metabolomics
  • LC-MS/MS
  • NMR
  • phenolic compounds
  • flavonoids
  • terpenoids
  • alkaloids
  • green extraction
  • supercritical CO2
  • DES (deep eutectic solvents)
  • antimicrobial activity
  • anti-inflammatory activity
  • bioavailability
  • standardization
  • safety
  • green extraction

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

37 pages, 6651 KB  
Article
Comprehensive Phytochemical Profiling and Chemotypic Variation Study of Three Medicinally Important Oncosiphon Species Indigenous to South Africa
by Tshwarelo R. Mathabatha, Maxleene Sandasi, Guy P. P. Kamatou, Weiyang Chen, Efficient Ncube, Bharathi Avula, Kumar Katragunta, Ikhlas A. Khan and Alvaro M. Viljoen
Plants 2026, 15(7), 1047; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants15071047 - 28 Mar 2026
Viewed by 446
Abstract
The genus Oncosiphon (Asteraceae), consisting of aromatic herbs, is indigenous to southern Africa. Oncosiphon species have been documented in Khoi-San ethnobotany as herbal remedies for typhoid fever, pneumonia, and as diuretics. Research on the biological properties and comprehensive phytochemical profiling of these important [...] Read more.
The genus Oncosiphon (Asteraceae), consisting of aromatic herbs, is indigenous to southern Africa. Oncosiphon species have been documented in Khoi-San ethnobotany as herbal remedies for typhoid fever, pneumonia, and as diuretics. Research on the biological properties and comprehensive phytochemical profiling of these important Oncosiphon species is currently limited. This study was therefore undertaken to address the knowledge void in chemical profiling, through the application of various analytical techniques to analyse the volatile and non-volatile constituents of three South African Oncosiphon species. The aerial parts of Oncosiphon suffruticosus (n = 28), O. grandiflorus (n = 16), and O. africanus (n = 4) were collected from various locations in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The stems and leaves (SL) were separated from the flowers (F) and analysed as distinct samples. The methanol: chloroform (1:1, v/v) extracts were prepared and analysed using ultra–high–performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight time–of–flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC–QToF–MS) and a semi–automated high–performance thin–layer chromatography (HPTLC) system. Multivariate data analysis was performed on the UHPLC–QToF–MS data to determine interspecies chemical variation. Two-dimensional (2D) gas chromatography (GCxGC–ToF–MS) was used to determine the headspace volatile profiles of the intact aerial parts. The results show that the non-volatile profiles of the Oncosiphon species are characterised by amino acids, phenolic acids, flavonoids, sesquiterpene lactones, and fatty acid derivatives. The HPTLC profiles of O. grandiflorus and O. africanus are chemically more closely related, and O. suffruticosus has a distinct profile, which is supported by the chemometrics results of the flowers. The major headspace volatile compounds in Oncosiphon flowers are α-pinene, α-ocimene, eucalyptol, o-cymene, and artemisia alcohol, whereas the stems and leaves mainly consist of α-ocimene, eucalyptol, and yomogi alcohol. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Phytochemistry and Bioactivities of Plant Extracts)
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