Projects / Programmes
Investigation of Compounds from Natural Sources by Modern Chromatographic and Spectroscopic Techniques
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 1.04.00 |
Natural sciences and mathematics |
Chemistry |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| P300 |
Natural sciences and mathematics |
Analytical chemistry |
flavonoids, phenolic acids, vitamins, carotenoids, naphtoquinones, enzymes, plant materials, nutrition, medicines, cosmetics, structure elucidation, chromatography, mass spectometry, NMR
Researchers (13)
Organisations (3)
Abstract
We propose investigation of biologically active natural compounds with potentially beneficial influence on human health. The starting material will be of plant origin. We will search for the best extraction conditions, develop methods of extract purification, perform different chromatographic separations and study chemical features of chosen compounds. For the identification of compounds we will use the combination of modern spectroscopic techniques (nuclear magnetic resonance; mass spectrometry as detector in high-performance liquid chromatography etc.) and develop new chromoatographic methods where needed. The developed analytical methods (for flavonoids, phenolic acids, vitamins, carotenoids etc.) will be used also for analyzing food supplements (in fact concentrated micronutrients) appearing on the market at accelerated rate, and also ordinary food od plant origin, exposed to different coditions, for comparison.
Part of the studied compounds will be isolated and/or prepared for the transformation into products, which will improve the material sight of human life as the final goal (food, medicines, cosmetics). Investigations in this field are often the matter of patent protection, therefore gaining know-how, unaccesible in the literature, needs a lot of experimental work.
Using modern chromatographic techniques (with emphasis on new applications of porous polymeric monolithic chromatographic stationary phases and application of mass spectrometry for detection and identification of compounds) we will achieve the final goals of the proposed project which is profound investigation of a few groups of natural compounds (polyphenols, carotenoids) in chosen plant materials. A special attention we will pay to natural naphtoquinones, synthesized in roots by some plants from the Boraginaceae family. These compounds have besides interesting purple coloration and coloring capability also exceptionally wide spectrum of biological activities. We will perform the needed botanical experiments with four different plants in order to get plant material grown in controlled conditions.
The results obtained (together with those of biological tests) will represent the starting point for the incorporation of the prepared substances into new products in pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industry and also encouragement for introduction of new crops in rural areas.
