Chemistry of Medicinal Plants, Foods, and Natural Products 2015

Medicinal foods and plants have been widely used as foods, dietary supplements, or medicines worldwide and demonstrated a diversified health benefits with a long history. The raw materials and finished products of botanicals are becoming increasingly popular to public and scientific communities , highlighting the need for analytical methodology to ensure the quality. The safety and efficacy of these medicinal natural products are closely associated to their identify, authenticity and quality, which in turn relate to many factors, such as geographical conditions (soil, sunlight, precipitation, and air) and post-growth factors (harvesting, storage, transportation , manufacturing processes, etc.). As such, it is always a challenge for scientific researchers to evaluate safety and efficacy of the complicated plant matrix. In this special, we have invited 15 original research articles addressing the novel analytical method development and validation, methodology and instrumentation improvement, chemical characterization , biological activities of plant materials, extracts, and pure phytochemicals. The first paper of this special issue investigates the feasibility of electronic tongue and multivariate analysis for discriminating the specific geographical origins of a Chinese green tea with protected designation of origin, and the authors concludes that electronic tongue and chemometrics can provide a rapid and reliable tool for discriminating the specific producing areas of Longjing. The second paper describes a quantitative method of flavonoids and chloro-genic acid in the leaves of Arbutus unedo L. by using HPTLC and their antioxidant activities by DPPH. The third paper reports a reliable HPLC method for the determination of afla-toxin M1 in eggs. The forth paper explores the characteristics of the anthocyanin and flavonol composition and content in grapes from plants resulting from intraspecific crosses of Vitis vinifera varieties Monastrell × Cabernet Sauvignon, Monastrell × Syrah, and Monastrell × Barbera. The fifth paper presents a rapid and sensitive method for determining aesculin of Cortex fraxini in rat by using HPLC-MS/MS with QTOF as a detector. The sixth paper reports antioxidant activity and free radical scavenging capacity of the essential oil and three different extracts of wildly grown Mentha longifolia. Meanwhile , the study also establishes volatile and phenolic profiles of essential oil and different extracts of wild mint (Mentha longifolia) from the Pakistani Flora by using GC-MS method. The seventh paper establishes a phytochemical profile of Cornus mas by identifying the biological constituents in the fruits with the advanced UPLC-MS-TOF technology. Additionally, it reports DNA protective and antigenotoxic activities of the main …