Production of green surfactants: Market prospects

Pressurized liquid extraction is a "green" technology for the extraction of nutraceuticals from foods and herbal plants. This review discusses the extraction principles and the optimization of the extraction parameters that improves the extraction efficiency. The use of different solvent mixtures and other extraction additives to enhance the efficiency of the extraction are discussed. Dynamic mode of extraction in Pressurized liquid extraction, and the use of combined and hyphenated sample preparation and analytical techniques are presented. This work discusses how different studies used Pressurized liquid extraction to enrich phenolic compounds, lignans, carotenoids, oils and lipids, essential oils and other nutraceuticals from foods and herbal plants. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Jasmonates (JAs) act as conserved elicitors of plant secondary metabolism. JA perception triggers extensive transcriptional reprogramming leading to the concerted activation of entire metabolic pathways. This observation inspired numerous quests for 'master' regulators capable of enhancing the production of specific sets of valuable plant metabolites. Many transcription factors (TFs), often JA-activated themselves, with a role in the JA-modulated regulation of metabolism were discovered. At the same time, it became clear that metabolic reprogramming is subject to complex control mechanisms integrated in robust cellular networks. In this review, we discuss current knowledge of the effect of JA-modulated TFs in the elicitation of secondary metabolism in the model plant Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) and a range of medicinal plant species with structurally divergent secondary metabolites. We draw parallels with the regulation of secondary metabolism in fungi and consider the remaining challenges to map and exploit the transcriptional machineries that drive JA-mediated elicitation of plant secondary metabolism. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

In the era of global industrialisation, the exploration of natural resources has served as a source of experimentation for science and advanced technologies, giving rise to the manufacturing of products with high aggregate value in the world market, such as biosurfactants. Biosurfactants are amphiphilic microbial molecules with hydrophilic and hydrophobic moieties that partition at liquid/liquid, liquid/gas or liquid/solid interfaces. Such characteristics allow these biomolecules to play a key role in emulsification, foam formation, detergency and dispersal, which are desirable qualities in different industries. Biosurfactant production is considered one of the key technologies for development in the 21st century. Besides exerting a strong positive impact on the main global problems, biosurfactant production has considerable importance to the implantation of sustainable industrial processes, such as the use of renewable resources and “green” products. Biodegradability and low toxicity have led to the intensification of scientific studies on a wide range of industrial applications for biosurfactants in the field of bioremediation as well as the petroleum, food processing, health, chemical, agricultural and cosmetic industries. In this paper, we offer an extensive review regarding knowledge accumulated over the years and advances achieved in the incorporation of biomolecules in different industries.