Fruits and vegetables have long been known to possess health benefits along with serving as a source of energy. The research to identify these compounds responsible for biological activities has gained prominence only in past few decades. These natural bioactive compounds are important ingredients of our daily dietary intake. This core unit is mainly focused on extraction, purification and structure elucidation of natural bioactives from different fruits and vegetables. Further, the identified compounds will be tested for their potential health benefits.

The specific aims of this core are (1). Optimization of method development for the quantification of micronutrients and putative compounds, (2). Solid-liquid, liquid-liquid extraction, and purification of these bioactive compounds by chromatographic techniques, (3). Structure elucidation of purified compounds by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and mass spectra.  
Our research involves bioassay-directed isolation, purification and chemical characterization of natural products from fruits and vegetables using preliminary antioxidant assay in different in vitro assay and oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assay and antiproliferative activity in cell culture models.

Isolation of natural products from fruits and vegetables involves state-of-the-art methodologies for separation and identification procedures. Taking into consideration that a fruit or vegetable may contain hundreds of constituents, the separation and purification process can be long and tedious. Isolation of natural products generally combines various separation techniques, depending on the solubility, volatility and stability of the compounds. The choice of different separation steps is of great importance and an analytical-scale optimization of the separation parameters is worthwhile.

Purification of the natural bioactive compounds is achieved by employing chromatographic techniques, which involves several steps. In order to obtain bioactive compounds with high purity, we extract plant material with selective solvents to extract selective components. In particularly, we use Soxhlet type extraction and supercritical extraction techniques to separate these constituents from the food matrix. These solvent extracts will be concentrated under vacuum to obtain a crude extracts. After which, these extracts will be purified using chromatographic techniques.

Open columns, or solid liquid or liquid- liquid extraction techniques are used as a first line of separation for the bioactive compounds. Partially purified mixture are purified using flash chromatography, preparative HPLC, Classical preparative thin-layer (planar) chromatography or preparative liquid chromatography under pressure such as flash chromatography, low-pressure LC (LPLC), medium pressure LC (MPLC) and high-pressure LC (HPLC).

Purification of the natural bioactive compounds is achieved by employing chromatographic techniques, which involves several steps. In order to obtain bioactive compounds with high purity, we extract plant material with selective solvents to extract selective components. In particularly, we use Soxhlet type extraction and supercritical extraction techniques to separate these constituents from the food matrix. These solvent extracts will be concentrated under vacuum to obtain a crude extracts. After which, these extracts will be purified using chromatographic techniques.

Purification of the natural bioactive compounds is achieved by employing chromatographic techniques, which involves several steps. In order to obtain bioactive compounds with high purity, we extract plant material with selective solvents to extract selective components. In particularly, we use Soxhlet type extraction and supercritical extraction techniques to separate these constituents from the food matrix. These solvent extracts will be concentrated under vacuum to obtain a crude extracts. After which, these extracts will be purified using chromatographic techniques.