Phytochemical Analyses of Secondary Metabolites of Aromatic, Medicinal and Food Plants

Dear Colleagues,

Plant secondary metabolites (PSMs) are small organic molecules characterized by different molecular structures and several biological functions. These molecules are essential for plants to interact with the ecosystem in which they live, protecting them from both biotic and abiotic stresses, attracting pollinators, and taking part in symbiotic interactions, thus increasing plant survival rate. Environmental, geographical, morphogenetic, and genetic factors can qualitatively and quantitatively affect PSMs; therefore, their amount and type can vary significantly between plants within the same genera, species, and population.

Aromatic, medicinal, and food plants are historically known as pivotal sources of PSMs, and are currently exploited as drugs, perfumes and fragrances, natural dyes, spice and food flavoring, food preservatives, and natural ingredient in cosmetics or food supplements.

Today, there is a growing focus on green and innovative methods for extracting metabolites, high-performance identification technologies for PSMs in plants, and determining how they can be externally induced for various purposes, as well as  identifying their volatile organic compounds (VOCs) profile, chemotaxonomy, functional foods, and metabolomics.

This Special Issue will cover research on the phytochemical composition of cultivated and wild aromatic, medicinal, and food plants, with an emphasis on their aromatic profile and phytonutritional content. Papers concerning innovative extraction, isolation, and identification methodologies, PSMs’ bioactive properties, and industrial uses are also welcome.

Dr. Basma Najar
Dr. Ilaria Marchioni
Guest Editors

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