Biotechnological Tools for Extraction, Identification, and Detection of Bioactive Compounds

Abstract

AbstractPlants are used as medicinal agents due to their wide range of structural diversity and pharmacological activities. The biologically active compounds that are present in plants are referred to as phytochemicals. These phytochemicals are derived from different parts of plants such as leaves, barks, seed, seed coat, flowers, roots, and pulps. The plants are the natural reservoirs of structurally diverse secondary metabolites. The extraction of bioactive compounds from the plants and their quantitative and qualitative estimation is important for the exploration of new biomolecules, which can be used in various industrial applications directly or can be used as a lead molecule to synthesize more potent compounds. This chapter highlights various methodologies used for the analysis of bioactive compounds present in the plant extracts involving the applications of chromatographic techniques such as high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), thin-layer chromatography (TLC), gas chromatography (GC), and high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) and its detection through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and mass spectrometry (MS). The chapter also covers the conventional techniques (Soxhlet method, cold maceration method, hydro-distillation method) for extraction of phytochemicals that generally require large amounts of organic solvents, are high energy expenditure, and are time-consuming. Hence, the new technologies of extraction viz. supercritical fluid extraction (SFC), pressurized liquid extraction (PLE), ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE), and microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) that are referred to as clean or green technologies are also discussed here. These recent techniques used to extract bioactive compounds from natural sources can reduce or eliminate the use of toxic solvents and thus preserve the natural environment and its resources.KeywordsPhytochemicalsGreen technologiesOrganic solventsIndustrial applications