Secondary Metabolites: Extraction, Optimization, Identification and Applications in Food, Nutraceutical, and Pharmaceutical Industries

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to submit original articles to the Special Issue entitled “Secondary Metabolites: Extraction, Optimization, Identification, and Applications in Food, Nutraceutical, and Pharmaceutical Industries”.

Interest has grown around natural plant extracts in food and beverage applications, their role in food technology, quality, and their therapeutic use in inhibiting several diseases. The protecting effects of healthy diets rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains are due not only to fiber, vitamins, and minerals, but also to a diversity of plant secondary metabolites, in particular, phenolic compounds, which are considered among the most important classes originating in plant-derived secondary metabolites. Phenolic compounds are renowned for their possession of a wide array of remarkable biochemical and pharmacological properties, including antioxidant, antiviral, anticancer, and anti-inflammatory activities. Consequently, these compounds can be functional in the prevention of many diseases as well as in health maintenance, in addition to phenolic-varied applications in the nutraceutical, food, and pharmaceutical industries, and due to their importance in the pharma- and nutraceutical arenas. This Special Issue will gather the most recent contributions concerning their chemistry, extraction methods, and analytical techniques, along with their biological activities. The interpretation of phenolic bioactivities on a molecular basis by means of both well-established and advanced bio-analytical techniques is also welcome.

We would like to invite researchers to participate in this Special Issue by submitting a contribution in their field of expertise. Both original research papers and global or specialized critical reviews are welcome.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Advanced analytical methodologies for the isolation, purification, and analysis of phytochemicals from food, food wastes, and medicinal plants;
• Phenolic compounds and metabolites in plants, food, and biological samples;
• Biological activities and mechanisms of action;
• Health benefits, in vivo evaluation;
• Development of novel antioxidants and phenolic-based nutraceuticals and functional ingredients.

Dr. Ibrahim M. Abu-Reidah
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. Processes 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 2400 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.