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Preanalytical Methods for Natural Products Production

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A topical collection in Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This collection belongs to the section "Natural Products Chemistry".

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Dr. Young Hae Choi

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Natural Products Laboratory, Institute of Biology Leiden, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
Interests: extraction of natural products; supercritical extraction of natural products; isolation and identification of bioactive compounds; metabolomics; biosynthesis; green chemistry in the production of natural products; application of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy
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Prof. Dr. Farid Chemat

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Groupe de Recherche en Eco-Extraction de Produits Naturel, Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, Université d´Avignon et des Pays du Vaucluse, 84029 Avignon, France
Interests: green extraction; alternative solvents; innovative technologies; original procedures; microwave; ultrasound; intensification
* It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Professor Farid Chemat.
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Prof. Dr. Giancarlo Cravotto

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Department of Drug Science and Technology, University of Turin, via P. Giuria 9, 10125 Turin, Italy
Interests: enabling technologies ind food extraction and processing; microwaves; ultrasound; hydrodinamic cavitation; SC-CO₂; green solvents; bioactive natural products
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Prof. Dr. Erica G. Wilson

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Instrumental Analysis Laboratory, Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences, University of Belgrano, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Interests: natural product chemistry; quality control of herbal medicines; food and cosmetic phytoingredients; chromatography (LCMS, GCMS, SPC, HPLC-DAD, HPTLC)

Topical Collection Information

Large areas of life sciences are associated with natural products research, in a wide range of organisms, in general, as well as at cellular or tissue levels. This includes, not only low molecular weight molecules, metabolites, but also, in a broad sense, any chemical with a natural origin, thus, including peptides, proteins, oligosaccharides, and polysaccharides, among others. Due to their diversity, research on natural products is multidisciplinary, involving pharmacological investigations, structure elucidation that involves the use of a wide range of chromatographic and spectroscopic methods, quality control of medicinal plants, and the recently-developed OMICS approaches (e.g., metabolomics, transcriptomics). If natural products are considered to be a basic pillar in life sciences studies, the investigation into how to deal with them in an optimal way becomes of utmost importance. In this context, their manipulation as materials or products, including all the preanalytical steps concerning sample preparation, extraction, derivatization as well as the improvement of conventional processing using alternative extraction solvents or techniques should be thoroughly evaluated.

In this Molecules Topical Collection, entitled "Preanalytical Methods for Natural Products Production", we invite manuscript submissions that focus on the sample preparation, extraction, derivatization and development of green processing of natural products. Submissions are expected to focus on a metabolite level, but papers involving some of natural oligomers and polymers will also be considered. Both original research articles or reviews related to these topics are welcome.

Dr. Young Hae Choi
Prof. Dr. Farid Chemat
Prof. Dr. Giancarlo Cravotto
Prof. Dr. Erica G. Wilson
Collection Editors

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Keywords

natural products extraction
natural products sample preparation
natural products purification
optimization of pre-analytical methods
green extraction
intensification
alternative solvents
process intensification

Published Papers (5 papers)

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2020

Jump to: 2018

11 pages, 1616 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Natural Deep Eutectic Solvent Extraction of Flavonoids of Scutellaria baicalensis as a Replacement for Conventional Organic Solvents

by Wim Wouter Oomen, Paloma Begines, Natali Rianika Mustafa, Erica G. Wilson, Robert Verpoorte and Young Hae Choi

Molecules 2020, 25(3), 617; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25030617 - 31 Jan 2020

Cited by 84 | Viewed by 6941

Abstract

Natural deep eutectic solvents (NADES) are a type of ionic liquid (IL) or deep eutectic solvent (DES), the ingredients of which are exclusively natural products (non-toxic and environmentally friendly). Here, we explore the potential of NADES as an alternative to conventional organic solvents (e.g., aqueous methanol or ethanol) for the extraction of flavonoids from Scutellaria baicalensis stem bark to investigate their extractability depending on structural variation. Four NADES, each containing citric acid in combination with β-alanine, glucose, xylitol, or proline (at a molar ratio of 1:1), and a variable amount of water, were used to extract the flavonoid aglycones: baicalein (1), scutellarein (3), wogonin (5), and oroxylin A (7), and their glycosides, baicalin (2), scutellarin (4), wogonoside (6) and oroxyloside (8) from the powdered bark of S. baicalensis. The chemical profile and yield of the extracts were determined using HPTLC and HPLC. The extractability of individual flavonoids was found to be influenced by the concentration of water (20–60%, w/w) in the NADES. Among the tested flavonoids, the extraction yield of baicalein (1), scutellarein (3), wogonin (5), oroxylin A (7) with NADES was 2 to 6 times that of aqueous methanol. However, the amount of their corresponding glycosides (baicalin (2), wogonoside (6) and oroxyloside (8)) extracted with NADES was only 1.5–1.8 times higher than with aqueous methanol. Interestingly, the more hydrophilic glycosides were less extracted than their corresponding aglycones despite the high hydrophilicity of the NADES. These results prove that NADES may be used for extraction of compounds with a wide range of hydrophilicity. Full article

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2018

Jump to: 2020

11 pages, 1500 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Support Vector Regression Approach to Predict the Design Space for the Extraction Process of Pueraria lobata

by Yaqi Wang, Yuanzhen Yang, Jiaojiao Jiao, Zhenfeng Wu and Ming Yang

Molecules 2018, 23(10), 2405; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules23102405 - 20 Sep 2018

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3529

Abstract

A support vector regression (SVR) method was introduced to improve the robustness and predictability of the design space in the implementation of quality by design (QbD), taking the extraction process of Pueraria lobata as a case study. In this paper, extraction time, number of extraction cycles, and liquid–solid ratio were identified as critical process parameters (CPPs), and the yield of puerarin, total isoflavonoids, and extracta sicca were the critical quality attributes (CQAs). Models between CQAs and CPPs were constructed using both a conventional quadratic polynomial model (QPM) and the SVR algorithm. The results of the two models indicated that the SVR model had better performance, with a higher R² and lower root-mean-square error (RMSE) and mean absolute deviation (MAD) than those of the QPM. Furthermore, the design space was predicted using a grid search technique. The operational range was extraction time, 24–51 min; number of extraction cycles, 3; and liquid–solid ratio, 14–18 mL/g. This study is the first reported work optimizing the design space of the extraction process of P. lobata based on an SVR model. SVR modeling, with its better prediction accuracy and generalization ability, could be a reliable tool for predicting the design space and shows great potential for the quality control of QbD. Full article

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18 pages, 2875 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Five-Golden-Flowers Tea: Green Extraction and Hepatoprotective Effect against Oxidative Damage

by Cai-Ning Zhao, Guo-Yi Tang, Qing Liu, Xiao-Yu Xu, Shi-Yu Cao, Ren-You Gan, Ke-Yi Zhang, Shuang-Li Meng and Hua-Bin Li

Molecules 2018, 23(9), 2216; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules23092216 - 31 Aug 2018

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 4873

Abstract

The consumption of herbal teas has become popular in recent years due to their attractive flavors and outstanding antioxidant properties. The Five-Golden-Flowers tea is a herbal tea consisting of five famous edible flowers. The effects of microwave-assisted extraction parameters on the antioxidant activity of Five-Golden-Flowers tea were studied by single-factor experiments, and further investigated using response surface methodology. Under the optimal parameters (53.04 mL/g of solvent/material ratio, 65.52 °C, 30.89 min, and 500 W), the ferric-reducing antioxidant power, Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity, and total phenolic content of the herbal tea were 862.90 ± 2.44 µmol Fe²⁺/g dry weight (DW), 474.37 ± 1.92 µmol Trolox/g DW, and 65.50 ± 1.26 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/g DW, respectively. The in vivo antioxidant activity of the herbal tea was evaluated on alcohol-induced acute liver injury in mice. The herbal tea significantly decreased the levels of aspartate aminotransferase, total bilirubin, and malonaldehyde at different doses (200, 400, and 800 mg/kg); improved the levels of liver index, serum triacylglycerol, and catalase at dose of 800 mg/kg. These results indicated its role in alleviating hepatic oxidative injury. Besides, rutin, chlorogenic acid, epicatechin, gallic acid, and p-coumaric acid were identified and quantified by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), which could contribute to the antioxidant activity of the herbal tea. Full article

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18 pages, 3835 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Optimization of Ultrasonic-Assisted Simultaneous Extraction of Three Active Compounds from the Fruits of Forsythia suspensa and Comparison with Conventional Extraction Methods

by Xinsheng Fang, Shubo Gu, Zongyuan Jin, Mingqian Hao, Zhenzhen Yin and Jianhua Wang

Molecules 2018, 23(9), 2115; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules23092115 - 23 Aug 2018

Cited by 27 | Viewed by 4347

Abstract

An efficient ultrasonic-assisted extraction (UAE) method was developed for simultaneous extraction of three active compounds, forsythiaside A (FSA), phillyrin (PHI) and rutin (RT), from the fruits of Forsythia suspensa. The effects of various factors including a binary mixed solvent of methanol/water and ethanol/water, the pH of the solvent, particle size, temperature, solvent to material ratio, ultrasonic input power and extraction time on UAE were investigated in detail. The mass transfer mechanism of UAE using different mixed solvents was further explained by comparison with the maceration extraction method. The response surface methodology was used to optimize the experimental variables including ethanol concentration, solvent to material ratio and extraction time. The optimized conditions for the simultaneous extraction of RT, FSA and PHI were: particle size 60–80 mesh, temperature 30 °C, ultrasonic power 200 W, ethanol concentration 50%, solvent to material ratio 32 mL/g and extraction time 37 min. Compared to conventional extraction methods, UAE provided the highest extraction efficiency and offered many advantages including the reduction of solvent, temperature and time for extraction. Full article

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14 pages, 1734 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mass Transfer in Osmotic Dehydration of Kiwiberry: Experimental and Mathematical Modelling Studies

by Michał Bialik, Artur Wiktor, Piotr Latocha and Ewa Gondek

Molecules 2018, 23(5), 1236; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules23051236 - 22 May 2018

Cited by 26 | Viewed by 5298

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of osmotic solutions and temperature on the osmotic dehydration (OD) of two cultivars of kiwiberry. OD was carried out in sucrose, xylitol and maltitol solutions at 30 °C and 50 °C, respectively. The process of osmotic dehydration was described by the means of water loss (WL), solid gain (SG), weight reduction (WR), and water content changes. Moreover, dehydration was described by mathematical models often used in the literature. The highest WL, WR and SG values were observed for samples treated by xylitol and maltitol at 50 °C. The statistical analysis of the mathematical modelling of the process showed that in most cases, the Peleg’s equation exhibits better fitting for the experimental data. Full article

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Preanalytical Methods for Natural Products Production

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2020

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