A Chemometrics Approach for Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Data to Characterize the Partial Metabolome Banana Peels from Southern Brazil

Plant Metabolomics Using NMR Spectroscopy

The major goal in plant metabolomics is to study complex extracts for the purposes of metabolic exploration and natural products discovery. To achieve this goal, plant metabolomics relies on accurate and selective acquisition of all possible chemical information, which includes maximization of the number of detected metabolites and their correct molecular assignment. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has been recognized as a powerful platform for obtaining the metabolite profiles of plant extracts. In this chapter, we provide a workflow for targeted and untargeted metabolite profiling of plant extracts using both 1D and 2D NMR methods. The protocol includes sample preparation, instrument operation, data processing, multivariate analysis, biomarker elucidation, and metabolite quantitation. It also addresses the annotation of plant metabolite peaks considering NMR's capabilities to cover a broad range of metabolites and elucidate structures for unknown compounds.

NMR-Based Plant Metabolomics in Nutraceutical Research: An Overview

Few topics are able to channel the interest of researchers, the public, and industries, like nutraceuticals. The ever-increasing demand of new compounds or new sources of known active compounds, along with the need of a better knowledge about their effectiveness, mode of action, safety, etc., led to a significant effort towards the development of analytical approaches able to answer the many questions related to this topic. Therefore, the application of cutting edges approaches to this area has been observed. Among these approaches, metabolomics is a key player. Herewith, the applications of NMR-based metabolomics to nutraceutical research are discussed: after a brief overview of the analytical workflow, the use of NMR-based metabolomics to the search for new compounds or new sources of known nutraceuticals are reviewed. Then, possible applications for quality control and nutraceutical optimization are suggested. Finally, the use of NMR-based metabolomics to study the impact of nutraceuticals on human metabolism is discussed.