The impact of drying on bioactive compounds of blue honeysuckle berries (Lonicera caerulea var. edulis Turcz. ex Herder)

Drying fruit is one of the simplest ways to extend the shelf-life of fruit, specially berries. Both higher temperature and time of heating significantly change the contents of some primary and secondary metabolites in honeysuckle fruit. Differences in their contents arising from different heat treatments were determined with the aid of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with mass spectrophotometry (MS). The content of sugars showed a small change with drying, while organic acid contents decreased with a longer drying time. Ascorbic acid was totally degraded, regardless of the time or heating temperature. Different phenolic groups responded differently to heat intensity and time of drying. Flavanols were more sensitive to higher temperature than to duration of heating and they decreased by more than 70% at 75 °C. In contrast, the content of hydroxycinnamic acids, increased with drying by more than 75%, regardless of the time and temperature

LC–DAD–MS phenolic characterisation of six invasive plant species in Croatia and determination of their antimicrobial and cytotoxic activity

Invasive plants’ phytochemicals are important for their invasiveness, enabling them to spread in new environments. However, these chemicals could offer many pharmaceutical compounds or active ingredients for herbal preparations. This study provides the first LC–MS phytochemical screening of six invasive alien plant species (IAPS) in the Istria region (Croatia): Ailanthus altissima, Ambrosia artemisiifolia, Conyza canadensis, Dittrichia viscosa, Erigeron annuus, and Xanthium strumarium. The study aims to identify and quantify the phenolic content of their leaf extracts and assess their antimicrobial and cytotoxic potential. A total of 32 species-specific compounds were recorded. Neochlorogenic, chlorogenic, and 5-p-coumaroylquinic acids, quercetin-3-glucoside, and kaempferol hexoside were detected in all the tested IAPS. Hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives were the main components in all the tested IAPS, except in E. annuus, where flavanones dominated with a share of 70%. X. strumarium extract had the best activity against the tested bacteria, with an average MIC value of 0.11 mg/mL, while A. altissima and X. strumarium extracts had the best activity against the tested fungi, with an average MIC value of 0.21 mg/mL in both cases. All the plant extracts studied, except X. strumarium, were less cytotoxic than the positive control. The results provided additional information on the phytochemical properties of IAPS and their potential for use as antimicrobial agents.SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS : Figure S1: Heat map presenting the representations of phenolic groups in different invasive plants; Figure S2: Chromatogram of the acetone extracts of the plant species leaves developed in ethyl acetate/methanol/water (EMW) solvent system sprayed with vanillin– sulphuric acid and TLC bioautograms; Table S1: Spectrum, mass-to-charge ratio (m/z) values of the molecular masses, and main fragments (MS2—second-generation product ion, MS3—thirdgeneration product ion) in negative ion mode ((M-H)−) identified with ESI–MS and the distribution of individual compounds in different invasive plants.The Croatian Science Foundation, the Slovenian Research Agency (ARRS) and the University of Pretoria, South Africa.https://www.mdpi.com/journal/plantsdm2022Paraclinical Science