Analysis of Marine Samples in Search of Bioactive Compounds

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• Publisher: Elsevier
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9780444633811
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Oceanography

Seas and oceans offer a wide range of temperature, pressure, light and chemical conditions thus allowing a wide diversity of marine organisms from shallow coastal waters to the deep ocean. These resources can be used to obtain new products and develop services, and in turn help to provide solutions to the challenges that affect our planet, including offering a sustainable supply of food and energy, new industrial materials and processes, new bioactive compounds, and new health treatments. Marine compounds have been identified as having antibacterial, anticoagulant, antifungal, antimalarial, antiprotozoal, antituberculosis, and antiviral activities. The major sources of these bioactive compounds are marine sponges, coelenterates, and microorganisms, followed by algae, echinoderms, tunicates, molluscs, and bryozoans.

The discovery of bioactive compounds from marine samples is a hot topic considering the current need for sustainable use of marine resources. This book is a comprehensive overview of the analytical techniques employed in the discovery and characterization of bioactive compounds isolated from (all possible) marine samples and gives future perspectives of analytical methodologies. This overview includes an assessment of the sampling and preparation of extracts, the separation and isolation of bioactive compounds, their structural characterization and the application of bioassays in the discovery of bioactive compounds.

• Comprehensive coverage of analytical techniques and applications
• Clear diagrams to adequately support important topics
• Real examples of applications of analytical techniques in the search for new bioactive compounds

Chapter 1

Introduction to the Analysis of Bioactive Compounds in Marine Samples

Teresa Rocha-Santos¹

Armando C. Duarte^2
1 ISEIT/Viseu, Instituto Piaget, Estrada do Alto do Gaio, Galifonge, Lordosa, Viseu, Portugal; Department of Chemistry & CESAM, University of Aveiro, Campus de Santiago, Aveiro, Portugal
² Department of Chemistry & CESAM, University of Aveiro, Campus de Santiago, Aveiro, Portugal

Abstract

Marine natural resources can be explored providing an alternative and sustainable source of new compounds with biological properties (bioactive compounds) that may help to develop new potential health treatments. Therefore, this chapter highlights the importance of bioactive compounds and describes the explored marine sources/samples including microorganisms such as microalgae, fungi, and bacteria; macroorganisms such as sponge, macroalgae, coelenterates, tunicates (ascidians), and mollusks; and marine by-products and fisheries waste streams. Furthermore, the state-of-the-art in terms of classes of bioactive compounds and its bioactivity is presented. The general approaches used for the screening of bioactive compounds are also described and discussed.

Keywords

Bioactive compounds

marine natural compounds

marine sources

microorganisms

bioactivity

1.1. Importance of bioactive compounds

The marine environment occupies approximately three quarters of the surface of the Earth and offers a wide range of conditions of temperature, pressure, light, and chemistry, as wells as a wide diversity of marine organisms, from shallow coastal waters to the deep ocean [1]. These resources can be used to obtain new products and to develop new services, presenting solutions regarding the challenges that affect our planet. Potential solutions include a sustainable supply of food and energy, new industrial materials and processes, new bioactive compounds, and new health treatments. The use of these resources not only creates jobs and improves health, but it can also contribute to the development of greener and smarter economies.

Marine bioactive compounds are natural compounds, derived and isolated from biological sources, that have biological activity and are isolated from marine sources. The natural products also refer to secondary metabolites; that is, small molecules with molec...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Contributors to Volume 65
• Series Editor's Preface
• Preface
• Chapter 1: Introduction to the Analysis of Bioactive Compounds in Marine Samples
• Chapter 2: Prospection, Collection, and Preservation of Marine Samples
• Chapter 3: Classical Methodologies for Preparation of Extracts and Fractions
• Chapter 4: Green Analytical Methodologies for Preparation of Extracts and Analysis of Bioactive Compounds
• Chapter 5: Bioassays for Bioactivity Screening
• Chapter 6: Vibrational Spectroscopy for Structural Characterization of Bioactive Compounds
• Chapter 7: Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy for Structural Characterization of Bioactive Compounds
• Chapter 8: Mass Spectrometry for Determination of Bioactive Compounds
• Chapter 9: Chromatography Coupled to Various Detectors as a Tool for Separation and Determination of Bioactive Compounds
• Chapter 10: Online Combination of Bioassays with Chemical and Structural Characterization for Detection of Bioactive Compounds
• Index