Innovative Membrane Separation Technology for Extraction and Recovery of Plant Natural Products
A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Phytochemistry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2026 | Viewed by 88
Special Issue Editor
Interests: conventional and non-conventional extraction, isolation of secondary metabolites from terrestrial and marine organisms; nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR); liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS); green chemistry from natural products
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Natural products research is important for discovering, understanding, and validating the use of natural chemicals made by living organisms for human benefit. In this sense, the main goals associated with their recovery and leverage are drug discovery, understanding biochemistry of compounds, developing safer products, optimizing green processes as alternatives to traditional extraction methods, and validation of the traditional medicine.
Particularly, plant natural products represent a rich and diverse source of active metabolites that encompasses important ecological and physiological roles as well as potential applications in the food, biotechnological, and agricultural sectors. Their effective utilization requires the optimization of separation strategies capable of effectively extracting, concentrating and fractionating organic compounds from complex plant matrices. In this context, membrane separation technologies have become an innovation for the selective extraction and recovery of plant-derived natural products. Their specific applications depend on the diversity of membrane pore sizes, their physicochemical properties, and the target molecules contained in the treated aqueous solutions. This enables the controlled fractionation and concentration of plant metabolites, generating attractive liquid fractions. Furthermore, the ongoing research advances in membrane development and surface modification have greatly expanded the possibilities for enhanced selectivity and reduced membrane fouling when processing complex plant matrices. The ample and available variety of membrane configurations and module geometries, including flat-sheet, tubular, spiral-wound, and hollow-fiber membranes, further broadens the range of methodological approaches for plant extract processing. Hence, the recovery of attractive compounds from diluted streams or the creation of plant-derived byproducts supports the continuous development of more sustainable processes for the study and utilization of plant secondary metabolites.
For this Special Issue, we invite researchers to submit articles, reviews, opinions, and short communications, including innovative pressure-driven membrane separation approaches being developed, optimized, and applied to the recovery of natural products from plant sources.
Dr. Carlos Areche
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-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 natural products
- membrane separation technology
- process optimization
- plant extract
- metabolites extraction
- plant-derived byproducts
- green separation processes
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.
