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Plants
Special Issues
Chemical Composition and Biological Activity of Plant Secondary Metabolites
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Chemical Composition and Biological Activity of Plant Secondary Metabolites

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2025 | Viewed by 2725

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Le Ba Vinh

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, Korea University, Sejong, Republic of Korea
Interests: metabolomic; natural product chemistry; phytochemistry; pharmacognosy; secondary metabolites; pharmacological effect
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Natural compounds continue to play a pivotal role and serve as a source of inspiration for the development of novel drugs. Thus, natural products derived from plants and marine organisms have been extensively explored and studied for their therapeutic potential. The composition of natural products is rich and complex, consisting of compounds from various chemical classes, including low-molecular-weight volatile and semi-volatile compounds, as well as polar molecules that can modulate biological actions. Secondary metabolites show diverse pharmacological effects, such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, anti-cancer, and cardiovascular effects. In this context, it is crucial to conduct suitable chemical characterization in order to identify and characterize the molecules potentially responsible for these effects.

This Special Issue aims to gather scientific papers on the pharmacological properties and chemical components of natural products. Therefore, we invite papers that discuss biological assays used to assess potential activities and investigative techniques for characterizing the chemical components of natural products.

Dr. Le Ba Vinh
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. 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

  • natural product chemistry
  • phytochemistry
  • pharmacognosy
  • secondary metabolites
  • pharmacological effect
  • underlying mechanisms
  • NMR, GC-MS
  • LC-MS
  • quantitative analysis
  • inflammation
  • anti-cancer

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

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 1018 KiB  
Article
Phenolic Compounds in Nectar of Crataegus monogyna Jacq. and Prunus spinosa L.
by Katja Malovrh, Blanka Ravnjak, Mitja Križman and Jože Bavcon
Plants 2025, 14(13), 2064; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14132064 - 6 Jul 2025
Viewed by 255
Abstract
Crataegus monogyna Jacq. and Prunus spinosa L. are common spring-flowering species in Slovenia. They occur in large stands and sometimes overgrow in unmanaged meadows. They are known as an excellent source of nectar for bees and other pollinators. Phenolic compounds are known as [...] Read more.
Crataegus monogyna Jacq. and Prunus spinosa L. are common spring-flowering species in Slovenia. They occur in large stands and sometimes overgrow in unmanaged meadows. They are known as an excellent source of nectar for bees and other pollinators. Phenolic compounds are known as antioxidant for both pollinators and plants. We were interested in comparing plant species in terms of their phenolic compound content: rutin, quercetin, (iso)quercitrin, chlorogenic acid, and hyperoside. Their nectar was obtained from both plant species in 2024 in Ljubljana and the area surrounding Ljubljana. We took 96 samples of each species. The nectar was sampled with microcapillary tubes and analysed by HPLC. When studying the influence of abiotic factors on the concentration of phenolic compounds, the correlations were weak, so we cannot say with certainty which environmental factors affect which phenolic compounds and in what way. Rutin is predominant in the nectar of P. spinosa and chlorogenic acid is predominant in the nectar of C. monogyna. Hyperoside is found in the lowest concentration in both plant species. We found that although C. monogyna secreted much less nectar at midday, it was more concentrated in phenolic compounds at this time than in the morning. In P. spinosa, nectar secretion was highest in the morning, and the concentration of phenolic compounds was also highest in the morning. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chemical Composition and Biological Activity of Plant Secondary Metabolites)
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13 pages, 21882 KiB  
Article
Two New Steroidal Saponins with Potential Anti-Inflammatory Effects from the Aerial Parts of Gnetum formosum Markgr.
by Ngo Van Hieu, Le Ba Vinh, Nguyen Viet Phong, Pham Van Cong, Nguyen Tien Dat, Nguyen Van Dan, Ngo Viet Duc, Hoang Minh Tao, Le Thi Tam, Le Tuan Anh, Nguyen Cao Cuong, Bui Huu Tai, Seo Young Yang and Hoang Le Tuan Anh
Plants 2024, 13(15), 2100; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13152100 - 29 Jul 2024
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1769
Abstract
Gnetum formosum Markgr., a member of the Gnetaceae family, is distributed in Vietnam. This plant remains a botanical enigma with an unexplored diversity of chemical constituents and pharmacological effects. In this study, two new steroidal saponins, namely gnetumosides A (1) and [...] Read more.
Gnetum formosum Markgr., a member of the Gnetaceae family, is distributed in Vietnam. This plant remains a botanical enigma with an unexplored diversity of chemical constituents and pharmacological effects. In this study, two new steroidal saponins, namely gnetumosides A (1) and B (2), were isolated from the aerial parts of G. formosum. Their chemical structures were elucidated using spectroscopic techniques, including high-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HR-ESI-MS) and NMR, along with chemical hydrolysis and comparison with the reported literature. The potential anti-inflammatory effects of the isolated compounds were evaluated by measuring lipopolysaccharide-stimulated nitric oxide (NO) production in murine macrophage cells. Notably, compound 1 exhibited the most potent inhibitory activity (IC50 = 14.10 ± 0.75 µM), comparable to dexamethasone. Additionally, the mechanisms underlying the observed anti-inflammatory effects were investigated through molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations on inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) proteins. This study is the first to investigate the chemical constituents and pharmacological effects of G. formosum. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chemical Composition and Biological Activity of Plant Secondary Metabolites)
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