Extraction and Isolation of Natural Products

Dear Colleagues,

Scientific research has identified a wide variety of substances, almost all of plant origin commonly taken with the diet, which can positively influence health and, thus, contribute to the prevention of diseases. These compounds, called bioactives, are not nutrients in the classical sense, that is to say they are able to develop, grow and maintain a human organism, but they can be defined as substances capable of modulating numerous biological activities and important functions of the organism. The attention shown by the researchers for these compounds and the interesting and promising data that emerge from the research carried out deserves further investigation to clarify the role on health. All this also in relation to the fact that the knowledge of the specific functions of these compounds is accompanied by the development of the so-called "functional foods", for which consumers seem to show great interest. Furthermore, an added value is represented by the extraction of bioactive compounds from waste material obtained from the working processes of the agro-food industry which represents a system to reduce the environmental impact through the recovery and reuse of waste, encouraging the implementation of a full circular economy. In the food sector, greater attention has been paid to food production processes, with a constant search for new technologies with the aim of improving production efficiency, guaranteeing greater safety and quality, and enabling the reduction of energy costs.

Interests: In many industrial processes, the initial phase of preparing a product requires the application of extraction techniques to isolate the extractable material contained in the most varied matrices. Therefore, innovative research into extraction techniques, particularly green ones, for the isolation and characterization of bioactive compounds from different matrices for the formulation of food rather than nutraceuticals, supplements, cosmetics and so on, are of great interest. Furthermore, for the identification of bioactive compounds chromatographic techniques are used that include traditional detectors, such as UV/Vis, but also more advanced methods based on mass spectrometry and NMR.

Dr. Monica Gallo
Guest Editor

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• Beneficial effects 
• Bioactives compounds 
• Eco-friendly 
• Functional foods 
• Green extraction
• Health 
• Mass Spectrometry 
• NMR 
• Recycling 
• Waste material