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Background: Senna alata (L.) Roxb, which belongs to the family of Fabaceae, is a herbal plant that has been used for the treatment of skin diseases, ringworm infection, and constipation since ancient times. In recent decades, various conventional and non-conventional methodologies such as maceration, decoction, and supercritical fluid extraction have been examined by researchers in order to determine the phytochemical constituents potentially found in S. alata. Objective: This review paper aims to provide a detailed discussion of traditional uses, extraction methodologies, phytochemical constituents, and biological activities of S. alata. Method: The review is based on previous studies obtained from various accessible library databases and electronic search engines, including Google Scholar, PubMed, Science Direct, Research Gate, Scopus and Hindawi. Results: Several non-conventional extraction methods, such as microwave-assisted and ultrasonicassisted, have been found to be better techniques for extracting bioactive compounds from S. alata when compared to conventional extraction methods such as Soxhlet, steam distillation, and maceration in terms of the quality of the yield. Tannins, saponins, flavonoids, anthraquinones, and cardiac glycosides are the common compounds found in S. alata. Among these anthraquinone, the most frequently reported as a major phytochemical constituent, is used as a laxative and possesses antibacterial, antifungal, and antimicrobial properties. Conclusion: Despite various claims for S. alata, very limited non-conventional extraction technology has been reported for its bioactivity study on skin diseases, ringworm infection, and constipation. Thus, this review may stimulate new applications and a clearer future perspective. In addition, the pros and cons of each extraction technology are also reviewed in this paper.

Background: Phaleria macrocarpa (Scheff.) Boerl. (Thymelaeaceae), usually referred to as God’s crown, Mahkota dewa, Pau, grows all year long in tropical countries, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Australia. It is traditionally used to treat haemorrhoids, stroke, heart disease, tumour, impotence, diabetes, allergies, kidney and liver disorders, migraine, acne, and skin ailments. Objective: The purpose of this systematic review is to provide important insight on P. macrocarpa’s traditional use, toxicity, classification of compounds, and pharmacological activities, thus identifying the gap in scientific analysis and potential analytical opportunities for future directions on this herb. Method: The related data for this systematic review were collected from renowned online databases, namely Wiley Online Library, Web of Science, Springer Link, PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, and Google scholar. Results: Around 48 compounds, including benzophenone, xanthonoids, norcucurbitacin derivatives, flavonoids, lignans, fatty acids and esters, phytosterols, aromatic acids, etc., were identified from different parts. These constituents and different solvent extracts using various identification techniques have been reported to show a broad range of pharmacological activities. Besides various traditional claims and pharmacological functions, scientific evidence on its ethnopharmacological aspects has been well-documented. Studies found that the plant demonstrates anti-diabetic, anti- oxidant, antimicrobial, anticancer, anti-hypercholesterolemia, and antihypertensive activities. Conclusion: Despite various claims, there is still inadequate scientific evidence, particularly on P. macrocarpa’s benefit in the management of dysentery, asthma, skin diseases, and rheumatoid arthritis, necessitating future studies. There is also a need to test its pharmacokinetics and toxicological data on humans to verify its potential bioactive properties.

In chemical synthesis, the uses of solvents are inevitable, and it has been a practice since the inception of the process. With time it gets into the notice that most of the essential solvents have...

Since the World Health Organization has suggested the exploration of natural products for cancer management owing to the side effects of chemotherapy and irradiation on humans and breast cancer accounts for the highest number of cancer related deaths globally, this study has examined antiproliferative effects of the aqueous and methanol extracts of Hypsizygus tessellatus (brown and white var.) and Flammulina velutipes caps against two breast cancer cell lines. The antioxidant and antiproliferative activities of these mushroom extracts were evaluated in vitro using chemical-based (for antioxidant activity) and cell (for antiproliferative activity) approaches. Furthermore, the phytochemical composition of the mushroom extracts were identified using mass spectroscopy (UPLC-QTOF/MS). The obtained results showed aqueous extracts of F. velutipes (Enoki) and white H. tessellatus (Bunapi shimeji) caps to possess higher antiodixant activities against DPPH (IC50 = 0.202 and 0.573 mg/mL, respectively), and H2O2 (IC50 = 0.622 and 0.745 mg/mL, respectively) compared tothe methanol extracts. Aqueous extracts of the mushrooms also showed better ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) values against ferric ions compared to the methanol extracts. Finally, the mushroom extracts showed good antiproliferative activities against human breast cancer cell lines. These findings suggest the presence of phytochemicals with antiproliferative and antioxidant acrtivities in the mushroom extracts studied.

Saudi Arabia is one of the major producers of date (Phoenix dactylifera) fruit. Date fruit flesh is considered a healthy food due to the presence of natural antioxidants. Green and innovative supercritical fluid (SFE, 52.5 °C temperature, 27.50 MPa pressure, 5 mL CO2/min flow rate) and subcritical (SubCO2, 250 extraction cycles, 29 °C temperature, 6.8 MPa, 12 h, ethanol solvent) extraction techniques were used to produce flesh extracts from four Saudi date fruits (Sukari (SKFE), Ambara (AMFE), Majdool (MJFE) and Sagai (SGFE)), and extracts prepared using 6 h Soxhlet extraction at 70 °C for 16 h using n-hexane as solvent, were taken as control. SFE produced the highest (p < 0.05) extract yields, whereas the SubCO2 method recovered significantly higher (p < 0.05) amounts of phytochemicals. Total phenolics (186.37–447.31 mg GAE/100 g), total flavonoids (82.12–215.28 mg QE/100 g), total anthocyanins (0.41–1.34 mg/100 g), and total carotenoid (1.24–2.85 mg BCE/100 g) were quantified in all the flesh extracts. The biological properties evaluation showed that flesh extracts had high antioxidant (17.79–45.08 µg AAE/mL), antiradical (191.36–34.66 µg/mL DPPH IC50), ferric-reducing (2.18–5.01 mmol TE/100 g) and ABTS-scavenging (444.75–883.96 µmol TE/100 g) activities. SubCO2 was the best technique and Majdool the best date variety, in terms of both phytochemicals and biological properties.

Palm oil mill effluent (POME) is a highly polluted industrial wastewater that may cause detrimental environmental pollution if discharged directly due to its biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentrations. In the present study, the performance of FeSO4.7H2O waste from titanium oxide industry was investigated in removing BOD, COD, and total suspended solids (TSS) from POME. Jar tests were conducted with varying coagulant doses (1–5 g L−1), pH (2–10), and temperature (40–80 °C) as a function of treatment time ranging from 5 to 90 min. Results show that the FeSO4.7H2O waste can remove about 70% COD, over 80% BOD, and over 85% TSS in a single stage coagulation treatment. The coagulation adsorption mechanisms for the removal of COD, BOD, and TSS from POME were investigated based on Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), Freundlich, and Langmuir isotherm models. The removal of COD, BOD, and TSS from POME was best described by the Freundlich isotherm model, indicating that coagulation adsorption occurred in a multilayer formation with non-uniform distribution of adsorbed particles. The coagulation adsorption kinetics studies revealed that the removal of COD, BOD, and TSS from POME using FeSO4.7H2O waste followed the second-order-kinetics modeling. Our findings suggest that the FeSO4.7H2O waste has the potential to be utilized as a coagulant for treating POME in compliance with the standard discharge limits.

Date palm (Pheonix dactylifera L.) has long been known for its medical benefits. In this review, the therapeutic properties of P. dactylifera are presented in light of the analysis of huge past reviews that reported the bioactivities of both flesh and seed of this fruit. The reported bioactivities of P. dactylifera included antioxidants, anti-cancer, aphrodisiac, antimicrobial, and anti-diabetic properties. This review additionally highlights the extraction technologies (Soxhlet, maceration, heat under reflux, Supercritical Fluid Extraction (SFE) and microwave assisted extraction) that were utilized as part of the extraction of P. dactylifera. This is because the quality and amount of the extraction yield depend on the extraction technology used. Accordingly, this review aims for underlining the potentials of P. dactylifera by compiling available data on the bioactivities and extraction technologies used to set the directions for the improvement of future research of this fruit.

Orodispersible tablets disintegrate rapidly (within 3 minutes) in the oral cavity and release the medicament before swallowing. The mode of disintegrant addition might affect the properties of orodispersible tablets. The objective of this study was to formulate and evaluate orodispersible tablets by studying different modes of disintegration addition with varying concentrations of disintegrants. The wet granulation method was used to produce the orodispersible tablets. Two methods of disintegration addition were compared (i.e., intragranular, extragranular). Three disintegrants (i.e., cornstarch, sodium starch glycolate, crospovidone) were used at three levels (5%, 10%, and 15%) in the study. The formulations were tested for the powder flowability (angle of repose) and characterized physically (hardness, weight, thickness, friability, disintegration time). The mangosteen pericarp extract was used as a model active pharmaceutical ingredient to be incorporated into the optimum formulation. It was observed that the extragranular method produced granules with better flowability compared to that of the intragranular method. Crospovidone was found as the most efficient disintegrant among the three. The optimum formulation selected was one with the highest concentration of crospovidone (15%), which showed the fastest disintegration time. The mode of disintegrant addition into the orodispersible tablets formulation was found to show a marked difference in the disintegration, as well as other physical characteristics of the orodispersible tablets where the extragranular mode of addition showed better property, which caused the orodispersible tablets to disintegrate the fastest.

This review summarizes the information on the health-promoting effects of phytosterols and the techniques for their extraction. The extraction and analysis processes of phytosterols are complex and have not been fully established. Phytosterols have significant roles in the areas of foods, nutrition, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics. Free phytosterols extracted from plant sources are widely used in fortified foods and dietary supplements. Most phytosterols are extracted from plant matrices using organic solvents which are health and environmental hazards. However, the application of supercritical fluid in the extraction of phytosterols has offered a promising green technology in overcoming the limitations of conventional extraction.

Phytosterols are used to lower the blood cholesterol. β-Sitosterol is one of the most important phytosterols with very poor water solubility and bioaccessibility. The main goal of the current research was to investigate the effects of different emulsification variables (i.e. shear, time, pressure and cycle) on the physicochemical properties, release behaviour and encapsulation efficiency of β-sitosterol in water-in-oil-in water (W/O/W) emulsion. Initially, 19 β-sitosterol emulsions were prepared under different experimental conditions (shear 3000 and 6000 rpm; time 2.5 and 5 min; pressure 100, 200 and 300 bar; cycle 1–3). In this study, the β-sitosterol emulsion prepared at 6000 rpm, 5 min, 300 bar and 3 cycles had the smallest average droplet size (139 nm) among all prepared samples. The interaction between shear and time showed the most significant (P

Phaleria macrocarpa, known as “Mahkota Dewa”, is a widely used medicinal plant in Malaysia. This study focused on the characterization of α-glucosidase inhibitory activity of P. macrocarpa extracts using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR)-based metabolomics. P. macrocarpa and its extracts contain thousands of compounds having synergistic effect. Generally, their variability exists, and there are many active components in meager amounts. Thus, the conventional measurement methods of a single component for the quality control are time consuming, laborious, expensive, and unreliable. It is of great interest to develop a rapid prediction method for herbal quality control to investigate the α-glucosidase inhibitory activity of P. macrocarpa by multicomponent analyses. In this study, a rapid and simple analytical method was developed using FTIR spectroscopy-based fingerprinting. A total of 36 extracts of different ethanol concentrations were prepared and tested on inhibitory potential and fingerprinted using FTIR spectroscopy, coupled with chemometrics of orthogonal partial least square (OPLS) at the 4000–400 cm−1 frequency region and resolution of 4 cm−1. The OPLS model generated the highest regression coefficient with R2Y = 0.98 and Q2Y = 0.70, lowest root mean square error estimation = 17.17, and root mean square error of cross validation = 57.29. A five-component (1+4+0) predictive model was build up to correlate FTIR spectra with activity, and the responsible functional groups, such as –CH, –NH, –COOH, and –OH, were identified for the bioactivity. A successful multivariate model was constructed using FTIR-attenuated total reflection as a simple and rapid technique to predict the inhibitory activity.

The use of amlodipine is very common due to the effects of amlodipine on hypertension and coronary artery disease (CAD) like chronic stable angina, vasospastic angina (Prinzmetal’s or variant angina), and angiographically documented CAD. Amlodipine is involved in several combinations with other antihypertensive drugs. The analysis of amlodipine and its co-drugs is reported using several analytical methods such as spectrophotometric, capillary electrophoresis and chromatographic methods. To our knowledge, there is no comprehensive reports which address all analytical methods for the analysis of amlodipine and combination, therefore we tried to gather as much as reports in one review paper to help researchers and industrial experts to easily access the information related to amlodipine analysis.

Stereospermum fimbriatum is one of the medicinal plants that has been claimed to be used traditionally to treat several illnesses such as stomachache, earache, skin irritation and postpartum illness. The genus of this plant is known to possess medicinal properties in every part of the plant. Therapeutic potential of S. fimbriatum is anticipated based on numerous previous studies that documented variety of phytochemical contents and bioactivity of the genus. The most reported bioactivities of its genus are antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, anti-diarrheal and analgesic activities. S. fimbriatum is a rare species that has not been discovered yet. Thus, this review aims at highlighting the potentials of S. fimbriatum by collecting available data on the bioactivities of its genus and set the directions for future research on this plant.

The demand for exploring advanced and eco-friendly sustainable packaging materials with superior physical, mechanical and barrier properties is increasing. The materials that are currently used in packaging for food, beverage, medical and pharmaceutical products, as well as in industrial applications, are non-degradable, and thus, these materials are raising environmental pollution concerns. Numerous studies have been conducted on the utilization of bio-based materials in the pursuit of developing sustainable packaging materials. Although significant improvements have been achieved, a balance among environmental concerns, economic considerations and product packaging performance is still lacking. This is likely due to bio-based materials being used in product packaging applications without a proper design. The present review article intends to summarize the information regarding the potential applications of cellulosic nanofiber for the packaging. The importance of the design process, its principles and the challenges of design process for sustainable packaging are also summarized in this review. Overall it can be concluded that scientists, designers and engineers all are necessarily required to contribute towards research in order to commercially exploit cellulose nanofiber for sustainable packaging.

Squalene is used as an ingredient in functional foods, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics. Due to the limitation of squalene availability from predominant source which is shark liver oil and to sustain the environment by fully utilising the by-product of palm oil, an effort has been made to find a potential source of squalene as an alternative to shark liver oil. The motivation for this work is to optimise its extraction from an alternative source, a palm oil by-product known as palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD), using supercritical carbon dioxide (sc-CO2) with the aid of a pressure swing technique. The measurements were performed using a sc-CO2 extraction in a fixed bed at temperatures of 40°C, 50°C, and 60°C, pressures of 20, 30 and 40 MPa, and holding times of 20, 30 and 40 min; high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used for squalene content analysis, optimised with a central composite design using research surface methodology (RSM). The second-order polynomial mathematical model adequately fitted the experimental results. The maximum squalene content from the model was predicted to be 356.24 ppm under the set of conditions with pressure of 23 MPa, temperature at 40°C, and 20 min holding time.

A novel aqueous micellar two-phase system composed of surfactant and mannitol was employed for the first time to purify polygalacturonase from Durio zibethinus Murray. The influences of different parameters such as type of surfactants, composition of surfactant/mannitol, pH and crude load on polygalacturonase partitioning were investigated. The results indicated that the polygalacturonase was recovered in 25% Tween 80 and 22% mannitol, at 68.2% of Tie line length, crude load of 30% at pH 5.0. The enzyme was successfully recovered with a high purification factor of 16.1 and yield of 97.3% while phase components were also recovered and recycled above 95%.

Recent technological advances and the development of new methods has provided an opportunity to obtain highly purified natural bioactive compound extracts with potential for the treatment and prevention of human diseases. The use of hazardous and toxic solvents for the extraction and processing of bioactive compounds from plant materials is considered a problem for health, safety and environmental pollution. Advanced technology aims to increase production of the desired compounds and find an alternative to using toxic solvents in the extraction of bioactive compounds from plant materials. The ever growing interest in plant bioactive compounds and today’s concerns about environment issues have led to an increased need for an efficient and green extraction method. This review is focused on the extraction of bioactive compounds from plants using advanced and environment-friendly methods such as supercritical fluid extraction, microwave-assisted extraction, ultrasound-assisted extraction and similar techniques that can extract rapidly and free from organic residues. An updated overview of the bioactive compounds present in the plant Phaleria macrocarpa and its extraction, fractionation, purification and isolation is provided. The advantages and disadvantages of both conventional and non-conventional extraction methods are also discussed in this review. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry

Fish oil was extracted and simultaneously collected into six fractions based on molecular weight and the chain length of triglycerides in terms of fatty acid constituents without splitting of the triglycerides, using supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) at optimized conditions of 40 MPa, 65°C, and a flow rate 3 mL min−1. In each type of fractionation, the first fraction (F1) was rich in saturated fatty acids (SFA; 52.57 to 61.26%), followed by monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA; 22.17 to 23.22%) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA; (0.54 to 20.37%); the sixth fraction (F6) was rich in PUFA (48.93%), followed by MUFA (33.59%) and SFA (13.61%). It was obvious that short-chain fatty acids were extracted at an earlier fraction; therefore, the latter fractions were dominant in long-chain fatty acids, especially MUFA and PUFA. Thus, omega-3 fish oil (last three fractions) was successfully separated to be used as a value-added health product.

Bioactive compounds can be categorised according to their pharmacological activity, but the way of classification is complicated because of the dissimilarities between chemically interrelated compounds and the similarities between different molecules. Selection of an appropriate extraction process is a pivotal step because it influences the characterisation of bioactive compounds. Analysis of thermodynamic process and experimental design can help ensure maximal reproducibility of the extraction process. Different extraction technologies have been studied as non-conventional methods to enhance the extraction output and the release of bioactive compounds from natural sources, such as supercritical fluid extraction (SFE), subcritical water extraction (SWE), and microwave-assisted extraction (MAE). Enzymatic treatment of plant materials prior to extraction is a way to enhance mass transfer and the discharge of bounded secondary metabolites. Enzymes are perfect catalysing agents, which ease the breakdown and hydrolysis of complex materials on cell walls and membranes during extraction, causing alteration or synthesis of bioactive constituents of plant origin.

Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) using carbon dioxide (CO2) and liquid CO2 using Soxhlet (CO2-Soxhlet) extraction were employed to extract three (3) antidiabetic compounds viz. stigmasterol, quercetin and avicularin from Mimosa pudica. Various extraction parameters were studied. Extracts were analyzed pharmacologically, qualitatively and quantitatively to ascertain enrichment level. All three (3) antidiabetic compounds were effectively enriched at optimized conditions of temperature 60oC, pressure 40 MPa, co-solvent ratio 30% and CO2 flow rate of 5 ml min−1. SFE was found to be the better method for enrichment of the antidiabetic compounds than the CO2-Soxhlet method. Extraction conditions were seen to affect enrichment of desired compounds.

Pharmaceutical workers involved with the production of antimicrobial drugs are exposed to various antimicrobial chemicals in different steps of manufacturing such as grinding, sieving, compression, granulation, mixing and filling. These exposures may lead to the development of multidrug resistance (MDR) in bacteria. Scientific reports on the occupational health hazard of pharmaceutical workers involved in manufacturing antibiotics are scarce. The present study aimed to compare the degree of bacterial resistance in pharmaceutical workers in Bangladesh to that of individuals not involved in the pharmaceutical field.Twenty male workers from five local pharmaceutical companies and twenty male subjects not involved in the pharmaceutical field (non-pharmaceutical subjects) were randomly selected. Nasal fluid, mucus/cough and stool specimens were collected from each subject and were cultured separately at 37°C for 24 hours to obtain bacterial growth. The cultured species were then identified, isolated and subjected to microbial sensitivity testing against 18 different antibiotics from eight different groups by the disk diffusion method. Staphylococcus spp., Pseudomonas spp. and Escherichia coli were identified and isolated from the culture of nasal fluids, mucuses and stools, respectively.All the isolated species of bacteria exhibited significant enhancement of the degree of MDR in pharmaceutical workers compared with non-pharmaceutical subjects. Workers with a longer working history had greater degree of antibiotic resistance and vice versa. It can be certainly considered that the exposure of pharmaceutical workers to antibiotic agents resulted in a high incidence of multidrug resistance.Effective steps should be taken to minimize inherent exposure of pharmaceutical workers to antibiotics during work to prevent antimicrobial drug resistance.

Diabetes mellitus is one of the major reasons for mortality worldwide and numerous scientific studies are going on to find plausible solutions to overcome and manage diabetes and its related infirmities. Traditional medicines use medicinal plants as anti-diabetic agents and despite being a disturbing weed to farming landMimosa pudicaLinn. has a high traditional usage for various purposes including anti-diabetic complications. The objective of this article is to accumulate and organise literatures based on traditional claims and correlate those with current findings on the use ofM. pudicain the management of diabetes mellitus.M. pudicais a creeping perennial shrub which is a common weed widely distributed in Southeast Asia specially in India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, China, Philippine etc. This plant has various species of whichM. pudicais a well recognised plant of medicinal origin which has been traditionally used as folk medicine in India, Bangladesh and Philippine, Chinese, herbal and siddha medicines. It has wound healing, anti-diabetic, anti-diarrhoeal, antimicrobial, anti-cancer, anti-infections, anti-worm, anti-proliferative, anti-snake venom, anti-depressant and anxiolytic etc. activities. The objective of this article is to provide up-to-date information on the traditional and scientific studies based on this plant on the frontier of diabetes mellitus. The methodology followed was to methodically collect, organise and chart the recent advances in the use ofM. pudicain diabetes and its related complications like vascular complications, diabetic wound, hyperlipidemia etc. Various scientific studies and traditional literatures clearly support the use ofM. pudicaas an anti-diabetic agent among other uses. So far, the anti-diabetic compounds have not been isolated from this plant and this can be a good scientific study for the future anti-diabetic implications.

The integument (high collagen content) of sea cucumber Stichopus vastus is gener-ally wasted after harvesting, whereas only its stomach and intestines are eaten infew Asian countries. Amino acid composition, thermal transition temperature( T m), zeta potential, solubility, moisture absorption and retention capacities,proximate composition and morphology of pepsin-solubilized collagen (PSC)isolated from the integument of S. vastus were studied. Amino acid compositionrevealed that glycine was dominant in the isolated collagen. PSC was found tohave an isoelectric pH of 4.67,good moisture absorption and retention capacity athigher humidity, a sharp effect of pH and NaCl concentration on solubility, andan inverse relationship between temperature and viscosity. PSC also showed themaximum T m to be 37.3C, very high protein content and ultrastructural charac-teristics. Hence, the PSC has the potential to be used as a functional ingredient infood, cosmetics and nutraceutical products.

Mango seed kernels (MSK) are discarded as agricultural wastes of industrial processing’s by-product as well as direct consumption of the mango fruits. The extraction parameters of SC-CO2 were optimized using central composite design (CCD) of response surface methodology (RSM) yielding cocoa butter analogy fats from MSK. The pressure, temperature, and CO2 flow rate were considered as variables, where the linear and quadratic effect of the flow rate of CO2, quadratic effect of pressure, and interaction between pressure and temperature was positive and most significant on the MSK oil yield. On the other hand, linear effect of pressure and temperature, quadratic effect of temperature, and interaction between temperature and CO2 flow rate had a less impact. The optimized oil yield was predicted to be 11.29 % at 44.2 MPa, 72.2 °C and CO2 flow rate of 3.4 ml/min which was close to the oil yield (11.7 %) of Soxhlet extraction method. However, the stearic (41.99 to 42.21 %) and oleic (43.78 to 43.89 %) the predominant fatty acids in terms of triglycerides constituents were found in MSK oils extracted by SC-CO2 and Soxhlet methods. The MSK oil extracted using SC-CO2 method could be regarded as premium quality cocoa butter analogy fats in this study.

The effects of moisture content and alkali treatment on cocoa butter extraction using supercritical fluid were studied. Ground cocoa nibs were examined at moisture contents of 1.95 %, 3.91 %, 5.87 %, 9.79 % and 17.64 % and the pH of the cocoa liquor was maintained at 5.0–5.9, 6.8–7.2 and 7.5–7.9. Cocoa butter was successfully extracted, using supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) for the moisture content study and SC-CO2 with 25 % ethanol as a cosolvent for the pH-level alkali treatment study, at 35 MPa, 60 °C and 2 ml/min. The results showed that increases in moisture content and pH level significantly (p < 0.05) increase the yield efficiency. A moisture content of 9.79 % and pH-alkali treatment at 7.5–7.9 produced the highest yield (60.36 % and 73.70 % at 20 and 18 h extraction time, respectively). Triglycerides (TG) and fatty acids (FAs) were similar to those found in cocoa butter obtained using the Soxhlet method. Saturated and short-chain TG and FA constituents were more soluble than unsaturated and long-chain constituents.

An alcohol/salt-based aqueous two-phase (ATPS) system, as a novel method of purification, was employed to purify serine proteases from mango (Mangifera Indica Cv. Chokanan) peel. The effectiveness of different parameters, such as type and concentration of alcohol (1-propanol, 2-propanol, and ethanol), type of salt (sodium citrate, potassium phosphate, and ammonium sulphate), pH, and NaCl, on the purification and selective separation of serine protease was investigated. Desirable conditions of partition coefficient (K), selectivity (S), purification factor (P), and yield (Y%) of serine protease, using ATPS, were determined. The highest partition coefficient (64.5) and selectivity (343.2) for serine protease purification value were achieved in an ATPS of 16% (w/w) 2-propanaol, 19% (w/w) potassium phosphate, and 5% (w/v) NaCl at pH 7.5. It was demonstrated that serine protease could be recovered with a yield of 96.7% and a purification factor of 11.6.

A rapid identification, classification and discrimination tool, using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy combined with Principal Component Analysis (PCA), was developed and applied to determine the profile of the Supercritical Fluid Extraction (SFE) of Parkia speciosa seeds under various temperature and pressure conditions (313, 323, 333, 343, 353 and 363 K and 20.68, 27.58, 34.47, 41.37, 48.26, and 55.16 MPa). The separation and identification of the compounds was carried out by Gas Chromatography coupled with Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (GC/TOF-MS). This technique has made it possible to detect the variability obtained under different SFE conditions and the separation of different chemical compounds in P. speciosa seeds. The FTIR-PCAresults were verified by GC/TOF-MS, and the FTIR-PCA method successfully identified the unsaturated carboxylic acids with the highest percentage area under the different conditions.

A steam autoclave was used to sterilize bacteria in clinical solid waste in order to determine an alternative to incineration technology in clinical solid waste management. The influence of contact time (0, 5, 15, 30 and 60 min) and temperature (111 °C, 121 °C and 131 °C) at automated saturated steam pressure was investigated. Results showed that with increasing contact time and temperature, the number of surviving bacteria decreased. The optimum experimental conditions as measured by degree of inactivation of bacteria were 121 °C for 15 minutes (min) for Gram negative bacteria, 121 °C and 131 °C for 60 and 30 min for Gram positive bacteria, respectively. The re-growth of bacteria in sterilized waste was also evaluated in the present study. It was found that bacterial re-growth started two days after the inactivation. The present study recommends that the steam autoclave cannot be considered as an alternative technology to incineration in clinical solid waste management.

An Aqueous Two-Phase System (ATPS) was employed for the first time for the separation and purification of pectinase from mango (Mangifera Indica Cv. Chokanan) peel. The effects of different parameters such as molecular weight of the polymer (polyethylene glycol, 2,000–10,000), potassium phosphate composition (12–20%, w/w), system pH (6–9), and addition of different concentrations of neutral salts (0–8%, w/w) on partition behavior of pectinase were investigated. The partition coefficient of the enzyme was decreased by increasing the PEG molecular weight. Additionally, the phase composition showed a significant effect on purification factor and yield of the enzyme. Optimum conditions for purification of pectinase from mango peel were achieved in a 14% PEG 4000-14% potassium phosphate system using 3% (w/w) NaCl addition at pH 7.0. Based on this system, the purification factor of pectinase was increased to 13.2 with a high yield of (97.6%). Thus, this study proves that ATPS can be an inexpensive and effective method for partitioning of pectinase from mango peel.