NADES blend for bioactive coating design as a sustainable strategy for postharvest control.

Bioactive functional coatings constitute a trendy topic due to they reduce postharvest fruit losses worldwide. Also, they could be carriers of biocompounds providing health benefits to the consumer. In this work, an innovative natural bioactive coating based on Natural Deep Eutectic Solvents (NADES) and Larrea divaricata extract was optimized by mixture-mixture design for the management of postharvest diseases caused by Monilinia fructicola. A NADES composed of lactic acid-glucose-water (LGH) for phenolic extraction from L. divaricata was optimized by a Simplex Lattice design and response surface methodology (RSM).Then, a d-optimal mixture-mixture design was carried out in order to optimize the bioactive coating composition, being the optimal proportion of 0.7 L. divaricata-LGH extract and 0.3 NADES plasticizer (composed by glycerol, citric acid and water). The optimal biocoating achieved an in vitro antimicrobial activity of 72 % against M. fructicola. Interestingly, NADES plasticizer improves the biocoating functionality, creating a smooth and uniform surface.

NADES-mediated folk plant extracts as novel antifungal agents against Candida albicans.

Candida albicans is an opportunistic pathogenic yeast commonly found in mouth, gastrointestinal tract and vagina. Under certain conditions, it causes skin, mucosal and systemic infections. With growing concern over the emergence of resistant strains to conventional antifungals, the development of novel antifungal agents for the management of this pathogen is an urgent need. In the present work, novel bioextracts from folk medicinal plants were directly used as active ingredient in a topical formulation for dermal candidiasis. With the aim to replace hazardous traditional reagents, a natural solvent composed by lactic acid: glucose: water (LGH) was used as vehicle for bioactive compound extraction. Furthermore, phenolic and alkaloid composition were determined by HPLC and their individual antifungal effect was evaluated. LGH extracts of Larrea spices demonstrate a significant antimicrobial activity against C. albicans being higher than their individual bioactive constituents. Notably, the mixture of Larrea cuneifolia and L divaricata extracts in topical formulations reveal a synergistic antifungal effect highlighting their potential for candidiasis treatment.

Natural deep eutectic solvents-mediated extractions: The way forward for sustainable analytical developments.

The concept of sustainable development has impacted in analytical chemistry changing the way of thinking processes and methods. It is important for analytical chemists to consider how sample preparation can integrate the basic concepts of Green Chemistry. In this sense, the replacement of traditional organic solvents is of utmost importance. Natural Deep Eutectic Solvents (NADES) have come to light as a green alternative. In the last few years, a growing number of contributions have applied these natural solvents proving their efficiency in terms of extraction ability, analyte stabilization capacity and detection compatibility. However, the arising question that has to be answered is: the use of NADES is enough to green an extraction process? This review presents an overview of knowledge regarding sustainability of NADES-based extraction procedures, focused on reported literature within the timeframe spanning from 2011 up to date. The contributions were analyzed from a green perspective in terms of energy, time, sample and solvent consumption. Moreover, we include a critical analysis to clarify whether the use of NADES as extraction media is enough for greening an analytical methodology; strategies to make them even greener are also presented. Finally, recent trends and future perspectives on how NADES-based extraction approaches in combination with computational methodologies can contribute are discussed.

Phenolic characterization and antimicrobial activity of folk medicinal plant extracts for their applications in olive production.

Phytophthora spp is important in plant pathology due to the importance of the diseases it causes. In olive trees, severe damages are caused by the disease known as "dry branch" occasioned by Phytophthora nicotianae, P. citrophthora and P. palmivora. Much effort has been made to find efficient methods of control, with a low negative impact on environment. In this regard, treatment with plant extracts is a valid strategy. The aims of the present study are (i) to determine the polyphenol composition of extracts of Thymus vulgaris, Origanum vulgare, Matricaria recutita, and Larrea divaricata by CZE, (ii) correlate the analytical composition of these extracts with the inhibition on the mycelial growth, and (iii) determine the individual antimicrobial activity of the most active ingredients. A simple methodology was developed for the determination of catechin, naringenin, cinnamic acid, syringic acid, chlorogenic acid, apigenin, vanillic acid, luteolin, quercetin, and caffeic acid in plant extracts by CZE. The extraction of phenolic compounds in extract was performed by a miniaturized solid phase extraction using a home-made minicolumn packed with suitable filtering material (C18 , 50 mg). The optimized analyses conditions were: 30 mM boric acid buffer, pH 9.50; capillary, 57 cm full length, 50 cm effective length, 75 µm id, hydrodynamic injection 30 mbar, 2 s; 25 kV; 25°C, detection by UV absorbance at 290 nm. Sample results suggest that phenolic composition seems to have a great influence on inhibition of pathogens. The highest inhibitions of mycelial growth were observed for cinnamic acid and naringenin.