Isolation and Characterization of Secondary Metabolites from Plants

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 May 2025 | Viewed by 1787

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
1. Ethnopharmacology and Pharmacognosy Team, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Moulay Ismaïl University, Meknes, Morocco
2. Department of Plant Protection and Environment, National School of Agriculture of Meknes, Meknes, Morocco
Interests: plants; agronomy; control methods; green chemistry; medicinal plants; sustainable agriculture; natural products; environmental protection; phytochemistry; organic farming

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Guest Editor
Laboratory of Biotechnology and Conservation and Valorization of Natural Resources (LBCVRN) (ex LBPRN), Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Fez 30000, Morocco
Interests: natural product; polyphenols; antioxidants; vegetable oils; oxidation; antioxidant activity; antimicrobial activity; phytochemical

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Plants are a remarkable source of chemicals, producing a wide range of bioactive compounds known as secondary metabolites. Instead, these compounds play a crucial role in plant defense, communication, and adaptation to their environment. They are responsible for the plant's aroma, color, taste, and resistance to pathogens, herbivores, and environmental stress. The isolation and characterization of secondary plant metabolites is a key area of research in natural product chemistry. These compounds have aroused immense interest in various fields, including pharmaceuticals and medicine (antibiotics, anticancer agents, anti-inflammatories and analgesics, antisturvites, etc.), agriculture (pesticides and herbicides, plant growth regulators, biological control agents, etc.), the food industry (flavoring agents, preservatives, etc.), cosmetics and personal care (perfumes, skin care, dyes, etc.), environmental applications (bioremediation, allelopathy, etc.). This Special Issue offers researchers a platform to publish their research results on in vitro, in vivo, and in silico studies of secondary metabolites, their isolation and characterization, and their use in various fields.

We invite you to contribute and share the latest advances by answering questions on various aspects of secondary metabolites.

Prof. Dr. Amine Assouguem
Prof. Dr. Mohammed Kara
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • secondary metabolites
  • phytochemistry
  • extraction
  • essential oil
  • bioactive compounds
  • purification
  • plant metabolites
  • molecular docking
  • alkaloids
  • terpenoids
  • phenolics
  • flavonoids
  • nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)
  • mass spectrometry (MS)
  • natural products
  • antimicrobial
  • antioxidant
  • high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)
  • gas chromatography (GC)
  • solvent extraction
  • anticancer
  • anti-inflammatory
  • antiviral
  • antifungal
  • cytotoxicity
  • immunomodulatory
  • neuroprotective

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

16 pages, 9727 KiB  
Article
Chemical Profiling, Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activities, and In Silico Evaluation of Gardenia jasminoides Essential Oil
by Mohammed Kara, Nouha Haoudi, Nor El houda Tahiri, Fatima Zahra Rhebbar, Reda El Mernissi, Amine Assouguem, Hamid Slali and Jamila Bahhou
Plants 2025, 14(7), 1055; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14071055 - 28 Mar 2025
Viewed by 564
Abstract
Aromatic and medicinal plants have been integral to human civilization for thousands of years, serving not only as vital components in traditional and modern medicine but also as sources of captivating fragrances that enhance our sensory experiences. The main objective of this study [...] Read more.
Aromatic and medicinal plants have been integral to human civilization for thousands of years, serving not only as vital components in traditional and modern medicine but also as sources of captivating fragrances that enhance our sensory experiences. The main objective of this study was to explore the chemical composition, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties, and in silico molecular docking attributes of Gardenia jasminoides essential oil (GJEO). The chemical compositions were determined using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. The antioxidant activity was determined by 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) test. The antimicrobial activity was tested in vitro using three microbial strains (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus), and two fungal strains (Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger). In silico analysis by molecular docking was used to determine the interaction types of topoisomerase II receptors and the most important antioxidant and antimicrobial compounds (Eugenol, Methyleugenol, and α-Terpineol ligands). The obtained results highlight the presence of 25 volatile compounds including 5 new detected compounds: Methyleugenol (15.41%), 1-Undecyne (3.4%), 2,6,10-Dodecatrien-1-ol, 3,7,11-trimethyl- (1.11%), 2,5-Cyclohexadiene-1,4-dione, 2,6-bis(1,1-dimethylethyl)- (0.4%), and 5,9-Tetradecadiyne (0.32%). The antioxidant capacity of GJEO is around 1.25 µg equivalent of ascorbic acid/mL for TAC assay and IC50 = 19.05 µL/mL for DPPH test. GJEO exhibited significant antimicrobial activity, particularly against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 16.67 µL/mL. In silico molecular docking analysis revealed strong interactions between ethyleugenol characterized by multiple bonding interactions, including Pi–Alkyl and carbon–hydrogen bonds, while α-Terpineol formed hydrogen and alkyl interactions. These results underline the potential of Gardenia jasminoides essential oil as a promising source of bioactive compounds with antioxidant and antimicrobial properties, highlighting its possible applications in pharmaceuticals and natural therapies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Isolation and Characterization of Secondary Metabolites from Plants)
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