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Sustainable Use of Natural Plant Products and Plant Extracts

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Products and Services".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2023) | Viewed by 5820

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Prof. Dr. Vesna Tumbas Šaponjac

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1. Faculty of Technology Novi Sad, University of Novi Sad, Bulevar cara Lazara 1, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
2. Department of Pharmacological and Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Houston, Health 2, 4349 Martin Luther King Boulevard, Houston, TX 77204-5037, USA
Interests: applied chemistry; organic chemistry; food chemistry; functional food; antioxidants; bioactive compounds; encapsulation, preclinical and clinical studies
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Dr. Vanja Travičić

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Faculty of Technology, University of Novi Sad, Bulevar cara Lazara 1, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
Interests: applied chemistry; chemistry of natural products; food chemistry; biologically active compounds; free radicals; antioxidants; encapsulation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Jelena J. Vulić

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Faculty of Technology, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Bulevar cara Lazara 1, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
Interests: food chemistry; chromatography; bioactivity

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Natural plant products and plant extracts represent an ever-increasing topic of research interest. Plants are well known for being a major source of molecules with a broad range of biological properties. Due to legislative actions and consumer concerns, interest in natural ingredients and their sustainable use grows; many industrial sectors, including food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and agrochemical, seek natural ingredients to improve the health benefits and functional properties of their products.

In this Special Issue, we invite researchers and the scientific community to contribute with original research articles, as well as review articles, and respond to the following increasingly pressing challenges:

Innovative sustainable techniques for obtaining natural plant products and plant extracts in different forms (free or encapsulated) with high bioactive potential;
Characterization of natural plant products and plant extracts;
Natural plant products and plant extracts for sustainable applications.

Prof. Dr. Vesna Tumbas Šaponjac
Dr. Vanja Šeregelj
Dr. Jelena J. Vulić
Guest Editors

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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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. Sustainability 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.

Keywords

plant products
plant extracts
sustainable extraction
green chemistry
bioactive compounds
bioactive properties
sustainable application

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 1787 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Enhancing Bioactive Metabolite Production in Aerva sanguinolenta Callus Cultures through Silver Nanoparticle and Salicylic Acid Elicitation

by Mehwish Maqbool, Muhammad Ishtiaq, Muhammad Waqas Mazhar, Ryan Casini, Eman A. Mahmoud and Hosam O. Elansary

Sustainability 2023, 15(13), 10395; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151310395 - 30 Jun 2023

Viewed by 1334

Abstract

Callus elicitation is advantageous for metabolite production due to its ability to increase yield, provide controllable conditions, and allow for genetic manipulation, offering a sustainable and scalable alternative to traditional plant-based extraction methods for the production of bioactive substances. In this research, in vitro callus cultures (CCs) of the wild medicinal plant Aerva sanguinolenta were used to evaluate the efficacy of various elicitation regimes of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and salicylic acid (SA) to evoke an increased production of secondary metabolites, such as aervine and antioxidant metabolites. Three concentrations of SA (i.e., 20, 50, and 100 µM) and three concentrations of AgNPs (i.e., 30, 60, and 90 µg/L) were used on shoot explant cultures using MS (Murashige and Skoog) media. All the SA and AgNP elicitation treatments significantly increased the production of antioxidant metabolites, total phenolic contents (TPCs), and total flavonoid contents (TFCs) compared to the control treatment experiments. The contents of aervine were increased significantly upon elicitation compared to the control trial. Furthermore, the antioxidant potential of the test extract was enhanced compared to the control treatment. Comparatively, the AgNPs were more beneficial as elicitors than the SA treatments. The elicitation treatments with about 90 µg/L AgNPs and 100 µM SA were the best among all elicitation regimes. Callus elicitation with SA and AgNPs can stimulate increased metabolite production and be used as a sustainable practice in the welfare and service industries for drug development and drug discovery. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Use of Natural Plant Products and Plant Extracts)

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16 pages, 1723 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Optimization, Identification, and Quantification of Selected Phenolics in Three Underutilized Exotic Edible Fruits Using HPTLC

by Tilahun Belayneh Asfaw, Mesfin Getachew Tadesse, Fekade Beshah Tessema, Henock Woldemichael Woldemariam, Belete Adefris Legesse, Tarekegn Berhanu Esho, Archana Bachheti, Arwa A. AL-Huqail, Mostafa A. Taher, Ferjeni Zouidi, Kamel A. Saleh, Vinod Kumar, Ivan Širić and Pankaj Kumar

Sustainability 2023, 15(12), 9568; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15129568 - 14 Jun 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1892

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate selected bioactive components in three underutilized wild edible exotic fruits (Syzygium guineense Wild. DC, Ziziphus spina-christi L., and Citrus medica L.), using high-performance thin-layer chromatography and ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry (HPTLC-UV-Vis), treated under three drying conditions. Ultrasound-assisted extraction was used to extract the target bioactive components under specified conditions, i.e., time of 15 min, temperature of 35 °C, methanol and water 75/25, v/v, and fruit powder-to-solvent ratio of 1:15, w/v. The mobile phase ratio for rutin, kaempferol, myricetin, and quercetin was toluene/ethylacetate/methanol/formic acid at 20:12:8:4, whereas, for phenolic acids, the ratio was 10:15:10:5, respectively. The HPTLC plates were scanned to identify and quantify selected compounds (phenolic acids, quercetin, rutin, myricetin, and kaempferol) at their maximum optimized absorption wavelengths. The contents of target bioactive components ranged from 0.64 ± 0.19 mg/100 g for rutin to 320.04 ± 7.10 mg/100 g for chlorogenic acid. Based on the results of this investigation, the phenol content of freeze-dried fruit was significantly (p ≤ 0.05) higher than other drying methods. The calculated average limit of detections and quantifications ranged from 0.37 to 75 ng/spot to 2.5 to 250 ng/spot, respectively. The average recoveries were 99.91 ± 5.65% for quercetin and 99.08 ± 5.96% for rutin. Overall, the validated HPTLC method was simple, selective, sensitive, and stable for the simultaneous identification and determination of phenolic acids and flavonoids. As a result, this study revealed that the contents of phenolic acids and flavonoids in selected exotic edible fruits can be used as effective antioxidants. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Use of Natural Plant Products and Plant Extracts)

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15 pages, 5862 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Essential Oil Composition of Aerial Part of Pluchea ovalis (Pers.) DC., Silver Nanoparticles Synthesis, and Larvicidal Activities against Fall Armyworm

by Yilma Hunde Gonfa, Fekade Beshah Tessema, Archana Bachheti, Mesfin Getachew Tadesse, Ebrahem M. Eid, Sami Abou Fayssal, Bashir Adelodun, Kyung Sook Choi, Ivan Širić, Pankaj Kumar and Rakesh Kumar Bachheti

Sustainability 2022, 14(23), 15785; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142315785 - 27 Nov 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1936

Abstract

In this study, essential oil of the aerial part of Pluchea ovalis (POEO) was isolated and employed for the synthesis of AgNPs (POEO-AgNPs). Then, larvicidal activities of POEO and PEO-AgNPs were evaluated against the larvae of fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiderda (J. E. Smith); (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). The potential medicinal values of P. ovalis and the lack of scientific reports on the applications of essential oils and nanoparticles of the plant species from the ecology of Ethiopia motivated the authors to carry out this research activity. The hydrodistillation technique was used for the isolation of POEO. Characterization of samples was done using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy (UV–Vis), scanning electron microscope-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and zeta nanoanalyzer instruments. GC/MS analysis showed that sesquiterpenes (91.27%) are the dominant chemical constituents of POEO. The characteristic UV–Vis spectra absorption of POEO-AgNPs is observed at 428 nm. SEM imaging reveals that POEO-AgNPs have a dominantly spherical shape. A strong peak of EDX at 3.0 keV shows the existence of Ag element in POEO-AgNPs. XRD analysis determines the diffraction peaks of POEO-AgNPs at 2θ of 38.2°, 44.1°, 64.6°, and 77.8° which are indexed to (111), (200), (220), and (311), respectively. The average particle size and surface potential of POEO-AgNPs are 132 nm and −64.7 mV, respectively. POEO-AgNPs were stored at room temperature and 4 °C and showed good stability for about 6 months without aggregation or dissolution. The larvicidal activity was tested at 500, 250, and 125 µg/mL of POEO solution and 100% (full strength = 0.083 g/mL), 50%, and 25% POEO-AgNPs solution against 2^nd instar larvae of S. frugiderda for 3 consecutive days. LC₅₀ and LC₉₀ are determined as 154.88 and 11,749.00 µg/mL for POEO and 69.18 and 1318.26% for POEO-AgNPs solutions, respectively. This finding will benefit the applications of POEO and POEO-AgNPs for a sustainable eco-friendly crop pest management method. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Use of Natural Plant Products and Plant Extracts)

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