Plant metabolomics, lipidomics, ionomics, fluxomics, and peptidomics are essential approaches for exploring how plants respond to epigenetic, pathological, and environmental stimuli through comprehensive chemical profiling. Over the past decades, significant progress has been made in protocols and methodologies to address the challenges in sample collection and extraction. Despite these advancements, sample preparation remains intricate, with ongoing debates about the most effective strategies. This review emphasizes the importance of clear research questions and well-designed experiments to minimize complexity, save time, and enhance reproducibility. It provides an overview of the key steps in these fields, including harvesting, drying, extraction, and data pre-acquisition for major analytical platforms. By discussing best practices and common challenges, this review aims to streamline methods and promote more consistent and reliable research outcomes.

The aim of this study was to investigate the suitability of Pressurized Liquid Extraction (PLE) and Supercritical Fluid Extraction (SFE) for Quercus robur bark and Artemisia vulgaris extraction. PLE of Q. robur and A. vulgaris were carried out at different temperatures with water, ethanol and several hydroalcoholic mixtures. SFE of A. vulgaris was performed at different pressures and ethanol concentrations. The anti-inflammatory activity of Q. robur extracts, the antibacterial activity of A. vulgaris extracts and the antioxidant activity of the extracts from both materials were determined. The highest phenolic compound content and antioxidant activity of Q. robur extracts were achieved with water at 100 °C (487.97 mg GAE/g and 3741 µg trolox/g). The highest values for A. vulgaris extracts were obtained with ethanol at 200 °C (149.16 mg/g and 437.13 µmol/g). The ethanolic extract at 150 °C from A. vulgaris had a noticeable anti-inflammatory activity (inhibition of TNF-α and IL-6 secretion near basal values and inhibition of IL-1β higher than 80% at 20 µg/mL). A. vulgaris extracts obtained by SFE exerted antibacterial activity against E. coli (IC50 of 1388 µg/mL with neat SCCO2 at 15 MPa) and S. aureus (1406 µg/mL using SCCO2 with 10% ethanol).

With the rapid economic development and the continuous growth in the demand for new energy vehicles and energy storage systems, a significant number of waste lithium-ion batteries are expected to enter the market in the future. Effectively managing the processing and recycling of these batteries to minimize environmental pollution is a major challenge currently facing the lithium-ion battery industry. This paper analyzes and compares the recycling strategies for different components of lithium-ion batteries, providing a summary of the main types of batteries, existing technologies at various pre-treatment stages, and recycling techniques for valuable resources such as heavy metals and graphite. Currently, pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy processes have matured; however, their high energy consumption and pollution levels conflict with the principles of the current green economy. As a result, innovative technologies have emerged, aiming to reduce energy consumption while achieving high recovery rates and minimizing the environmental impact. Nevertheless, most of these technologies are currently limited to the laboratory scale and are not yet suitable for large-scale application.

The present study comprises the second part of our previous work that dealt mainly with the phytochemical and physicochemical characterization of commercial unroasted green coffee beans, clove, cinnamon–clove and nutmeg ethanolic extracts of grape origin. In the present study, we focused on producing a discriminating model concerning commercial unroasted green coffee beans, clove, cinnamon, cinnamon and clove mixture (1:1, w/w), and nutmeg fine powders based on multivariate analysis of variance and supervised learning from tentative data of volatile compounds analysis, carried out with solid phase dynamic extraction in combination with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Results showed that 7 volatile compounds, i.e., ethylene, methanol, 3-methylpentane, ethyl acetate, 9-hexadecen-1-ol, toluene, and methyl acetate, could differentiate the investigated samples resulting in a 100% classification rate using the cross-validation method of linear discriminant analysis. Results were further confirmed using partial least squares regression analysis. The study contributes to the typification of commercial unroasted green coffee beans, cinnamon, clove, cinnamon and clove mixture, and nutmeg, based on selected volatile compounds. In addition, the study provides further support to the literature by means of a possible substitution of these products in rapid analysis tests, given the statistical models developed.

Flavonoids are the most abundant functional compounds distributed in higher plants, and are used as important dietary components for human health protection. The development of natural flavonoids, such as functional food or medicinal food, has received extensive attention in recent years. The extraction, separation, and quantitation of flavonoids are the key techniques in the utilization of flavonoid resources. The traditional methods for flavonoid extraction and separation always used toxic solvents, which produce toxic residues and pollute the environment. Based on an analysis of the literature on flavonoid resources, the utilization, separation, quantitation, and green separation techniques of flavonoids were summarized. First, extraction by hot water or hot ethanol, assisted by pressurization and microwave-ultrasonication, then concentration and precipitation of flavonoids by cool water or cool ethanol or ethanol/water in specific ratios. This method could obtain over 85% purity in the first cycle and over 95% purity after three precipitation cycles in the separation of the most commonly used flavonoids, such as dihydromyricetin, rutin, and quercetin. In conclusion, flavonoids showed great prospects in human health protection and disease treatment. Chemical structure-based separation using the water–ethanol methods and assisted with microwave-ultrasonication, pressurization, and temperature regulation proved to be efficient and environmentally friendly, showing great potential for the flavonoid industry. These “green” processing techniques and mechanisms deserve further research.

90Sr is one of the highly radioactive and hazardous nuclides in nuclear waste liquids. The high water solubility and mobility of 90Sr2+ ions make it difficult to effectively remove 90Sr from the complex aqueous environment. Herein, K2SbPO6, a phosphatoantimonate ion exchange material with an excellent removal ability for Sr2+ ions, has been organically granulated with polyacrylonitrile (PAN) by an automated method to form K2SbPO6/PAN composite microspheres. The K2SbPO6/PAN microspheres with radiation resistance exhibit a high maximum adsorption capacity (qmSr) of 131.15 mg g−1 for Sr2+ ions and retain the high removal rate (RSr) in a wide pH range (pH = 3–12). It is important that K2SbPO6/PAN microspheres could efficiently treat Sr2+ ions solutions in a dynamic adsorption manner even at 970 bed volumes (RSr > 81%). This work paves the way for the preparation of low-cost ion exchange materials with the advantages of regular shape and easy operation by a simple and fast method and the practical application of powdered ion exchange materials.

Protein purification is a crucial step for various downstream applications like drug development, antibody preparation, and structure determination. The constant pursuit is for methods that are more efficient and cost-effective. We propose a novel approach using an elastin-like polypeptide (ELP) as an aggregation core that serves as an anchor between the beads in a chromatography column. In this method, a chilled sample containing a [target protein type] fusion protein is loaded onto a pre-equilibrated IMAC (immobilized metal affinity chromatography) column with a low-salt buffer. The column is then washed with a warm buffer containing high salt to remove impurities. Here, the key step involves warming the column above the ELP’s transition temperature (Tt), which triggers its aggregation. This aggregation is expected to trap the target protein tightly between the beads. Subsequently, a harsh wash with high salt and high imidazole can be applied to remove even persistent contaminants, achieving high protein purity. Finally, the temperature is lowered, and a cold, low-salt buffer is introduced to reverse the aggregation and elute the purified target protein. This method has the potential to eliminate the need for sophisticated chromatography systems while still achieving high protein purity.

Hexavalent chromium, one of the heavy metal pollutants in water, harms the ecological environment and human health. In this work, an aniline-p-phenylenediamine copolymer has been prepared by chemical oxidative polymerization to remove the hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) from wastewater. The results show that when the initial Cr(VI) concentration is 1.5 mg·L−1, the removal percentage (RP%) of Cr(VI) could reach 94.84% after 180 s of treatment. The RP% of Cr(VI) increases with the dosage of copolymers and decreases with an increase in the initial Cr(VI) concentration. Additionally, the RP% of Cr(VI) removal reaches a maximum of 97.70% with a pH value of 1.0. The Cr(VI) removal kinetics of the copolymers follows a pseudo-first-order chemical reaction model. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results demonstrate that the Cr(VI) removal mechanism by the aniline-p-phenylenediamine copolymer is a redox reaction. The positive value of ΔH° and negative value of ΔG° affirm that the Cr(VI) removal process by aniline-p-phenylenediamine copolymer is endothermic, thermodynamically achievable, and spontaneous.

This study explored the antimicrobial potential of Piper betle L. (PBL) and Piper nigrum L. (PNL) extracts against MRSA. Plant parts including stem, leaf, and fruit were extracted using aquadest, methanol, and hexane, resulting in 18 distinct extracts. FT-IR combined with cluster analysis (CA) categorized the extracts, and anti-MRSA activity was assessed through the paper disk diffusion method. The most potent extracts were further analyzed using GC-MS to identify bioactive compounds. Additionally, molecular docking studies were conducted for MRSA protein targets (4DKI, 6H5O, and 4CJN). The hexane extract of PNL and the aqueous extract of PBL fruit showed the strongest inhibitory effects. GC-MS identified piperine (14.22%) and diisooctyl phthalate (14.67%) as major compounds, with piperolein B, piperanine, β-caryophyllene oxide, and α-caryophylladienol as minor compounds in the hexane extract of PNL, while hydroxychavicol (81.89%) and chavibetol (12.01%) were predominant in the aquadest extract of PBL. Molecular docking revealed that piperolein B and piperine had strong binding affinities to MRSA proteins 4DKI, 6H5O, and 4CJN, comparable to ciprofloxacin. In conclusion, this study confirms the potential of PBL and PNL as sources of novel anti-MRSA agents, supporting further research to develop new therapies.

The essential oil components of traditional Chinese medicine in-hospital preparation were complex, and one-dimensional chromatographic separation was difficult to completely separate them due to the limited peak capacity. This study was carried out to establish a comprehensive two-dimensional chromatographic separation and analysis method based on countercurrent chromatography (CCC) and gas chromatography (GC). In this paper, we focused on the separation of the essential oil of the traditional Chinese medicine in-hospital preparation Wenjing Tongluo San by CCC × GC, and explored the orthogonality between the two chromatographic techniques to provide the new technical support for the screening of the active ingredients. A solvent system composed of n-hexane-ethyl acetate-methanol-water (9.5:0.5:8.5:1.5, v/v) was chosen for the first-dimensional CCC separation. All the fractions collected from CCC were transferred to GC for plotting two-dimensional contours map. The calculated capacity of the two-dimensional separation system exceeded 3000, which was 8 times more than that of the one-dimensional separation system. High orthogonality (r = 0.42) and spatial coverage factor (70.42%) were obtained. Meanwhile, all the fractions were identified by GC-MS. Our research provided a new methodology for separating essential oils in traditional Chinese medicine as well as an approach for evaluating the quality of traditional Chinese medicinal in-hospital preparation based on two-dimensional chromatographic fingerprints.