Natural Deep Eutectic Solvents (NADES): Phytochemical Extraction Performance Enhancer for Pharmaceutical and Nutraceutical Product Development

Natural products from plants were extracted and widely studied for their activities against many disease conditions. The selection of the extracting solvent is crucial to develop selective and effective methods for the extraction and isolation of target compounds in the plant matrices. Pharmacological properties of plant extracts and their bioactive principles are related to their excellent solubility, stability, and bioavailability when administered by different routes. This review aims to critically analyze natural deep eutectic solvents (NADES) as green solvents in their application to improve the extraction performance of plant metabolites in terms of their extractability besides the stability, bioactivity, solubility, and bioavailability. Herein, the opportunities for NADES to be used in pharmaceutical formulations development including plant metabolites-based nutraceuticals are discussed.

Comparative Effects of Solvents on the Herbal Extraction of Antidiabetic Phytochemicals

Aims: The study determined and compared the herbal extraction yields using water, ethanol and hydromethanol solvent and the solvent extracting the highest antidiabetic constituents. Place: The study took place in the Department of Chemistry (Organic Laboratory), Federal University of Technology Owerri, Nigeria. Methodology: The antidiabetic contents of Moringa oleifera (Moringa) and Vernonia amygdalina (bitter leaf) were extracted by soaking using water, ethanol and hydromethanol (1:1) as solvents. The phytochemicals analysis was done both qualitatively and quantitatively (using Spectrophotometer (UV-V15)). Data collected were statistically analysed using SPSS version 10 tools. Results: The crude ethanolic extraction was found to give the highest extract yield of 46.06% and 38.91% from Moringa and bitter leaf, respectively. There were more phytochemicals obtained from Moringa (28+) than from Vernonia crude extracts (21+). The antidiabetic phytochemicals identified in both plants included Steroids, Phenols, Cardiac glycosides and Terpenoids. Ethanol extracted the Glycosides, Terpenoids and Phenols in relative abundance.. Hydromethanol solvent extraction yielded the highest concentrations of Steroids from Moringa (59.87mg/100g) and bitter leaves (75.43mg/100g) as well as highest extraction of Cardiac glycosides from both plants. Water extracted the highest concentrations of Phenols from both Moringa (0.32mg/g); bitter leaf (0.25mg/g) and Terpenoids from Moringa. Conclusion: This study suggests that the choice of solvent (s) for phytochemical extraction (s) should consider factors such as the plant material (s) and the phytochemical (s) involved. So, Water > Hydromethanol > ethanol could be used for extracting phytochemicals for diabetes therapy.

Antifungal Activity of Senna alata, Senna bicapsularis and Pityrogramma calomelanos

Aims: Senna alata (Carrion crow bush), Senna bicapsularis (Money bush) and Pityrogramma calomelanos (Wild maran) are known for their value in traditional medicine. The study was an effort to identify, environment friendly antifungal compounds from these locally available plants against fungal pathogen Curvularia lunata. Study Design: An experiment based study done to identify antifungal property and phytochemical identification of C. lunata. Place and Duration of Study: Plants were collected from the coastal areas of Guyana and identified at the Biodiversity Center, University of Guyana, Guyana between January 2017- May 2017. Methodology: Phytochemical extraction was conducted using soxhlet and rotovap apparatus. Hexane, methanol and aqueous extracts of plants were analyzed for antifungal properties. Antifungal activity was tested using the poisoned food and well diffusion technique. Data analysis of the study was done using R-Studio Program for statistical computing and graphics. A Tukey test was done along with ANOVA and Boxplots. Results: Methanol extract of P. calomelanos showed maximum antifungal activity with an inhibition percentage of 60.3% at 400 µl, with poison food technique. With well diffusion method, P. calomelanos showed an inhibition zone of 54 mm at 500 µl. Saponins, steroids and glycosides were identified with methanol extract of P. calomelanos. Conclusion: The finding of this study indicates, the possible use of P. calomelanos extract as an antifungal agent against C. lunata and its potential to control fungal plant diseases.

Process optimization for extraction of phytochemical from Ficus racemosa: Phytochemical extraction

Aim: The aim of the present study was to establishment of a process for extraction of phytochemical from Ficus racemosa Background: Ficus racemosa is an underutilized crop, contains numerous phytochemical and having potential to play a significant role in food and nutritional security. However, it has lower consumer acceptability because of its taste and presence of fig wasps. In these situations, extraction of the phytochemical from this crop is an alternate option for its efficient utilization in any food matrices Objective: The objective of the present study was to optimize the extraction technique for extraction of phyto-chemicals from dried Ficus racemosa powder Method: Present study shows the method for extraction of phytochemical from dried Ficus racemosa powder using different variables i.e. solid-to-liquid ratio (1:10-1:40), temperature (30-70°C), time (30-120min) and pH (2.5-6.5). Result: Maximum phytochemical activity was observed under optimized conditions i.e. solid-to-liquid ratio (1:15), temperature (59.99°C), time (30.01min.) and pH (3.50) with 0.834 desirability. The optimized extract was analyzed using HPLC-DAD, which confirms the present of ascorbic acid, gallic acid, tannic acid, chlorogenic acid, ferrulic acid, catechin, quercetin Conclusion: It is concluded that Ficus racemosa can be successfully utilized for the extraction of phytochemical

Hydnora africana Derived Phytochemicals against Acetaldehyde Dehydrogenase of Aeromonas hydrophila Causing Septicemia

For drug discovery it takes approximately 6 years to expose in the market and for commercial uses. There are different procedure to get success in the drug discovery like preliminary phytochemical analysis, structural elucidation of the bioactive compound, preclinical test and clinical test etc. So to optimize the time for invention of new drug molecule, computer aided drug designing and molecular docking analysis is being used as one of the highly effective methodology. The phytochemical extraction of Hydnora africana plant was reported to inhibit the growth of Aeromonas hydrophila which cause Septicemia. “Biovia Discovery Studio” molecular docking methods give us opportunity to identify the effective molecule against the microbes. “High positive values of -CDOCKER energy and -CDOCKER interaction energy” recommended that flavone can effectively deactivate the acetaldehyde dehydrogenase enzyme thereby interrupting the life cycle of the organism.