Biological Activity Biological and Applications Natural Compounds of • Ana M. L. Seca, Laila and Sharopov Moujir Moujir Farukh Biological Activity and Applications of Natural Compounds Edited by Ana M. L. Seca, Laila Moujir Moujir and Farukh Sharopov Printed Edition of the Special Issue Published in Applied Sciences www.mdpi.com/journal/applsci Biological Activity and Applications of Natural Compounds Biological Activity and Applications of Natural Compounds Editors Ana M. L. Seca Laila Moujir Moujir Farukh Sharopov MDPI • Basel • Beijing • Wuhan • Barcelona • Belgrade • Manchester • Tokyo • Cluj • Tianjin Special Issue Editor Ana M. L. Seca Laila Moujir Moujir Farukh Sharopov cE3c/GBA, FCT—University of Departamento de Bioqu´ımica, Research Institution Azores, Ponta Delgada Microbiolog´ıa, Genetica´ y “Chinese-Tajik Innovation Portugal Biologia Celular, Center for Natural Products”, Facultad de Farmacia, Academy of Sciences of the Universidad de La Laguna Republic of Tajikistan, Spain Rudaki Avenue 33, Dushanbe Tajikistan Editorial Office MDPI St. Alban-Anlage 66 4052 Basel, Switzerland This is a reprint of articles from the Special Issue published online in the open access journal Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417) (available at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/applsci/special issues/activity natural compounds). For citation purposes, cite each article independently as indicated on the article page online and as indicated below: LastName, A.A.; LastName, B.B.; LastName, C.C. Article Title. Journal Name Year, Article Number, Page Range. ISBN 978-3-03936-617-0 (Hbk) ISBN 978-3-03936-618-7 (PDF) c 2020 by the authors. Articles in this book are Open Access and distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which allows users to download, copy and build upon published articles, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications. The book as a whole is distributed by MDPI under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND. Contents About the Editors .............................................. vii Ana M. L. Seca and Laila Moujir Natural Compounds: A Dynamic Field of Applications Reprinted from: Applsci 2020, 10, 4025, doi:10.3390/app10114025 ................... 1 Jos´e Weverton Almeida Bezerra, Felicidade Caroline Rodrigues, Rafael Pereira da Cruz, Luiz Everson da Silva, Wanderlei do Amaral, Ricardo Andrade Rebelo, Ieda Maria Begnini, Camila Fonseca Bezerra, Marcello Iriti, Elena Maria Varoni, Henrique Douglas Melo Coutinho and Maria Flaviana Bezerra Morais-Braga Antibiotic Potential and Chemical Composition of the Essential Oil of Piper caldense C. DC. (Piperaceae) Reprinted from: Applsci 2020, 10, 631, doi:10.3390/app10020631 ................... 9 Sims K. Lawson, Layla G. Sharp, Chelsea N. Powers, Robert L. McFeeters, Prabodh Satyal and William N. Setzer Essential Oil Compositions and Antifungal Activity of Sunflower (Helianthus) Species Growing in North Alabama Reprinted from: Applsci 2019, 9, 3179, doi:10.3390/app9153179 .................... 21 Chunpeng Wan, Yuting Shen, Muhammad Farrukh Nisar, Wenwen Qi, Chuying Chen and Jinyin Chen The Antifungal Potential of Carvacrol against Penicillium Digitatum through 1H-NMR Based Metabolomics Approach Reprinted from: Applsci 2019, 9, 2240, doi:10.3390/app9112240 .................... 29 Laila Moujir, Manuel R. L´opez, Carolina P. Reyes, Ignacio A. Jim´enez and Isabel L. Bazzocchi Structural Requirements for Antimicrobial Activity of Phenolic Nor-Triterpenes from Celastraceae Species Reprinted from: Applsci 2019, 9, 2957, doi:10.3390/app9152957 .................... 41 Jeong A Yoon, Changjin Lim, Dong Seok Cha and Young Taek Han Synthesis and Evaluation of the Lifespan-Extension Properties of Oleracones D–F, Antioxidative Flavonoids from Portulaca oleracea L. Reprinted from: Applsci 2019, 9, 4014, doi:10.3390/app9194014 .................... 53 Duangjai Tungmunnithum, Ahmed Elamrani, Malika Abid, Samantha Drouet, Reza Kiani, Laurine Garros, Atul Kabra, Mohamed Addi and Christophe Hano A Quick, Green and Simple Ultrasound-Assisted Extraction for the Valorization of Antioxidant Phenolic Acids from Moroccan Almond Cold-Pressed Oil Residues Reprinted from: Applsci 2020, 10, 3313, doi:10.3390/app10093313 ................... 61 Bohyung Kang, Sullim Lee, Chang-Seob Seo, Ki Sung Kang and You-Kyung Choi Analysis and Identification of Active Compounds from Salviae miltiorrhizae Radix Toxic to HCT-116 Human Colon Cancer Cells Reprinted from: Applsci 2020, 10, 1304, doi:10.3390/app10041304 ................... 81 Gon¸calo P. Rosa, Ana M. L. Seca, Maria do Carmo Barreto, Artur M. S. Silva and Diana C. G. A. Pinto Chalcones and Flavanones Bearing Hydroxyl and/or Methoxyl Groups: Synthesis and Biological Assessments Reprinted from: Applsci 2019, 9, 2846, doi:10.3390/app9142846 .................... 91 v Sodik Numonov, Farukh S. Sharopov, Sunbula Atolikhshoeva, Abduahad Safomuddin, Mahinur Bakri, William N. Setzer, Azizullo Musoev, Mizhgona Sharofova, Maidina Habasi and Haji Akber Aisa Volatile Secondary Metabolites with Potent Antidiabetic Activity from the Roots of Prangos pabularia Lindl.—Computational and Experimental Investigations Reprinted from: Applsci 2019, 9, 2362, doi:10.3390/app9112362 ....................109 Alexandra M. Afonso, Joana Gon¸calves, Angeloˆ Lu´ıs, Eugenia Gallardo and Ana Paula Duarte Evaluation of the In Vitro Wound-Healing Activity and Phytochemical Characterization of Propolis and Honey Reprinted from: Applsci 2020, 10, 1845, doi:10.3390/app10051845 ...................127 Laila Moujir, Oliver Callies, Pedro M. C. Sousa, Farukh Sharopov and Ana M. L. Seca Applications of Sesquiterpene Lactones: A Review of Some Potential Success Cases Reprinted from: Applsci 2020, 10, 3001, doi:10.3390/app10093001 ...................141 Muhammad Nadeem, Muhammad Imran, Tanweer Aslam Gondal, Ali Imran, Muhammad Shahbaz, Rai Muhammad Amir, Muhammad Wasim Sajid, Tahira Batool Qaisrani, Muhammad Atif, Ghulam Hussain, Bahare Salehi, Elise Adrian Ostrander, Miquel Martorell, Javad Sharifi-Rad, William C. Cho and Nat´alia Martins Therapeutic Potential of Rosmarinic Acid: A Comprehensive Review Reprinted from: Applsci 2019, 9, 3139, doi:10.3390/app9153139 ....................173 vi About the Editors Ana M. L. Seca has a degree in Chemistry and an MSc in the Science and Technology of Paper and Forest Products, both obtained at the University of Aveiro, Portugal, where she also completed her PhD in Chemistry in 2000. Since then, she has worked as an assistant professor at the University of Azores (Portugal) and, since 2016, has been a member of the Center for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes—cE3c (ABG). She has published 48 SCI papers and 8 book chapters. Her current research interests range from the isolation and identification of secondary metabolites with potential pharmacological applications to the synthesis of pharmaceutically relevant natural compound analogues. Laila Moujir Moujir has a degree in Pharmacy from the University of La Laguna, Spain, where she also completed her PhD in Microbiology in 1988. She was granted a diploma in Health and specialized in Clinical Analysis. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia (Canada) and at the Molecular Biology Center (CBM) Madrid. In 2006, she started working as an associate professor at the Department of Microbiology and Biology Cell of the University of La Laguna. During her research career, she has published more than 50 papers within her field of research, “Search and selection of antimicrobials, cytostatic and antivirals of natural products”. Farukh Sharopov completed his Doctor of Sciences degree in Natural Sciences at Ruprecht Karls University in Heidelberg, Germany, in 2015. From 2018, he has been a postdoctoral researcher at the Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (China), and at the same time, he is a researcher at the research institution Chinese-Tajik Innovation Center for Natural Products, National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tajikistan. He is the author of more than 100 research papers. His research interests are natural products, drug delivery and surface chemistry. vii applied sciences Editorial Natural Compounds: A Dynamic Field of Applications Ana M. L. Seca 1,2,* and Laila Moujir 3 1 cE3c-Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes/Azorean Biodiversity Group & Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Azores, Rua Mãe de Deus, 9500-321 Ponta Delgada, Portugal 2 LAQV-REQUIMTE, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal 3 Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology, Genetics and Cell Biology, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad de La Laguna, 38206 San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Spain; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +351-29-6650174 Received: 2 June 2020; Accepted: 7 June 2020; Published: 10 June 2020 Abstract: Nature represents an amazing source of inspiration since it produces a great diversity of natural compounds selected by evolution, which exhibit multiple biological activities and applications. A large and very active research field is dedicated to identifying biosynthesized compounds, to improve/develop new methodologies to produce/reuse natural compounds and to assess their potential for pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries, among others, and also to understand their mechanism of action. Here, the main results presented in each work are highlighted. The applications