Antioxidant Activity Potential of Virginia (Flue-Cured) Tobacco Flower Polysaccharide Fractions Obtained by Ultrasound-Assisted Extraction

Sustainable Biomaterials: Current Trends, Challenges and Applications

“…For example, in China, tobacco sales leave millions of tons of tobacco waste yearly that find little use aside from disposal/landfilling and burning. In collaboration with the School of Food and Biological Engineering at Zhengzhou University of Light Industry (Prof. Chunping Xu), the company has found an interesting number of applications of bio-engineered polysaccharides from a simple but highly effective aqueous extraction from tobacco [33], which more recently also extended to the utilization of tobacco waste. In their proposed approach, different sources of tobacco were utilized including Burley (cured) and flue-cured.…”

“…In their proposed approach, different sources of tobacco were utilized including Burley (cured) and flue-cured. The most extended practice for the extraction and separation of polysaccharides from tobacco leaves was a simple aqueous extraction process assisted by ultrasounds [33]. Upon extraction, polysaccharides were subsequently separated and isolated using Sepharose-type columns and eventually characterized and quantified.…”

“…Upon extraction, polysaccharides were subsequently separated and isolated using Sepharose-type columns and eventually characterized and quantified. Several fractions of different polysaccharide extracts could be isolated from tobacco leaves with interesting biological activities [33].…”

“…These extracts were mainly tested for antioxidant activities, with results pointing to excellent radical scavenging properties (for both hydroxyl as well as DPPH) in a dose-dependent manner [33]. In some other cases, analogous polysaccharides extracted from tobacco or other biomass-derived sources have been reported to have promising antimicrobial and neuroprotective activities [34].…”

Morphological Characterization of Nicotiana tabacum Inflorescences and Chemical-Functional Analysis of Extracts Obtained from Its Powder by Using Green Solvents (NaDESs)

“…Previous chemical studies revealed that tobacco flowers contained polysaccharides [ 3 ], sterols [ 4 ], terpenoids compounds [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ], alkaloids [ 10 ], and phenolic compounds, mainly flavonols like rutin, quecetin, isoquercitrin, kaempferol 3-glucoside, quercetin 3–mono, 3,3′-dimethyl ether, and kaempferol 3-rutinoside-7-glucoside [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ], and anthocyanins such as cyanidin, delphinidin, peonidin, and petunidin [ 15 , 16 , 17 ]. Furthermore, although numerous compounds have been identified in tobacco flowers, studies on biological activities for potential industrial uses are scarce, i.e., antimicrobial, antioxidative, and antitumoral, not to mention their use as pesticides were described only for terpenoids compounds obtained from tobacco flowers [ 3 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 15 , 16 , 17 ]. However, to the best of our knowledge, no studies on the biological activities of the phenolic compounds present in the inflorescences have been issued until now.…”