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Cannabis sativa is a herbaceous multiple-use species commonly employed to produce fiber, oil, and medicine. It is now becoming popular for the high nutritional properties of its seed oil and for the pharmacological activity of its cannabinoid fraction in inflorescences. The present study aims to apply nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to provide useful qualitative and quantitative information on the chemical composition of seed and flower Cannabis extracts obtained by ultra-sound-assisted extraction, and to evaluate NMR as an alternative to the official procedure for the quantification of cannabinoids. The estimation of the optimal ω-6/ω-3 ratio from the 1H NMR spectrum for the seed extracts of the Futura 75 variety and the quantitative results from the 1H and 13C NMR spectra for the inflorescence extracts of the Tiborszallasi and Kompolti varieties demonstrate that NMR technology represents a good alternative to classical chromatography, supplying sufficiently precise, sensitive, rapid, and informative data without any sample pre-treatment. In addition, different extraction procedures were tested and evaluated to compare the elaboration of spectral data with the principal component analysis (PCA) statistical method and the quantitative NMR results: the extracts obtained with higher polarity solvents (acetone or ethanol) were poor in psychotropic agents (THC < LOD) but had an appreciable percentage of both cannabinoids and triacylgliceroles (TAGs). These bioactive-rich extracts could be used in the food and pharmaceutical industries, opening new pathways for the production of functional foods and supplements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tomato plants produce, among other defensive molecules, glycoalkaloides (i.e. all-tomatine). All-tomatine, found in highest concentrations in green fruits, leaves and stems, has demonstrated a wide variety of biological activities useful in fields such as agronomy and biopesticides. Despite the interest in its potential use, extraction methods for all-tomatine are few and mostly developed with an analytical scope. In analogy with other active principles (pyrethroids, nicotinoids), the all-tomatine can represent an alternative to the use of synthetic pesticides currently discouraged for their environmental persistence and progressive reduction of efficacy against target organisms. The aim of this work was to attempt the development of a process to extract all-tomatine based on the re-use of tomato waste industry residues as feedstock and to apply a cascade production approach. To do so, the lab-scale methods to extract all-tomatine were employed as a starting point and different tomato portions (green fruits, leaves, and stems) as feedstock. The best process in terms of feasibility and recovery was identified by mixing the extraction (acetic acid 5% v/v) and purification (ammonia 25% v/v precipitation) steps of different methods. The process was successively tested using the residues of the full-scale tomato cannery plant waste composed by stems + leaves (SL), and green fruits (GT) currently not valorized. The best recovery was obtained by the SL (yield of the extract: 10.8 mg g−1 dry matter (DM) of the starting biomass; all-tomatine pureness: 864 mg g−1 DM extract). The use of the acetic acid as extraction agent gave a solvent-free by-product (68% DM starting biomass), reusable as cultivation substrate. At the purification phase, the dialysis-treatment of the wastewater, recovered a solution rich in sugars and organic acid to get a full starting biomass recovery of 85.6% DM starting biomass. [Display omitted] • Tomato plants produce all-tomatine as a defense metabolite. • All-tomatine is interesting as a biopesticide. • The residues of the tomato cannery industry were tested as feedstock. • All-tomatine was extracted with acetic acid and precipitated with ammonia. • The process applied a cascade approach with a high biomass recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The three-dimensional structure and conformational equilibrium of flexible bioactive molecules in solution are of considerable importance in clarifying their role in chemical and biological activity, since their action takes place in a liquid medium. The use of residual dipolar couplings (RDCs) recently emerged as a promising and effective method to address this kind of investigation. In this brief review, the conformational analysis of several flexible non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, belonging to the class of salicylates and a-arylpropionic acids (profens), is described using the RDCs measured in weakly aligning poly-γ-benzyl-L-glutamate solutions. By combining these experimental parameters, extracted by using different mono- and bi-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance experiments, with the theoretical additive potential-direct probability description approach, accurate descriptions of the probability distributions have been obtained for all the drug molecules selected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]