plants Review Phytochemicals: Extraction, Isolation, and Identification of Bioactive Compounds from Plant Extracts Ammar Altemimi 1,*, Naoufal Lakhssassi 2, Azam Baharlouei 2, Dennis G. Watson 2 and David A. Lightfoot 2 1 Department of Food Science, College of Agriculture, University of Al-Basrah, Basrah 61004, Iraq 2 Department of Plant, Soil and Agricultural Systems, Plant Biotechnology and Genome Core-Facility, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Carbondale, IL 62901, USA;
[email protected] (N.L.);
[email protected] (A.B.);
[email protected] (D.G.W.);
[email protected] (D.A.L.) * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +964-773-564-0090 Academic Editor: Ulrike Mathesius Received: 19 July 2017; Accepted: 19 September 2017; Published: 22 September 2017 Abstract: There are concerns about using synthetic phenolic antioxidants such as butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) as food additives because of the reported negative effects on human health. Thus, a replacement of these synthetics by antioxidant extractions from various foods has been proposed. More than 8000 different phenolic compounds have been characterized; fruits and vegetables are the prime sources of natural antioxidants. In order to extract, measure, and identify bioactive compounds from a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, researchers use multiple techniques and methods. This review includes a brief description of a wide range of different assays. The antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anticancer properties of phenolic natural products from fruits and vegetables are also discussed. Keywords: antimicrobial; antioxidants; medicinal plants; BHT 1. Introduction Many antioxidant compounds can be found in fruits and vegetables including phenolics, carotenoids, anthocyanins, and tocopherols [1]. Approximately 20% of known plants have been used in pharmaceutical studies, impacting the healthcare system in positive ways such as treating cancer and harmful diseases [2].