Extracts of plants typical of the Tuscany region

Extracts of plants typical of the Tuscany region


Every plant can be considered as a true chemical laboratory, since it produces thousands of bioactive substances with multiple functions.
Thanks to the extraction, refinement, and purification processes used to produce an extract, it is possible to select special cocktails of substances from every plant that confer unique and specific pharmacological, dermocosmetic, nutraceutical and sensory properties to the extract itself.

The abundance and biodiversity of the Tuscan flora allow Alidans to offer product that recall in mind territories, smells, tastes and landscapes of a region known and appreciated worldwide.

A wide range of personalized extracts and semi-finished products can be obtained from medicinal, officinal and aromatic plants from Tuscany. Such products are intended for food, cosmetic, pharmaceutical, phytotherapic, herbal and nutraceutical uses.

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Personalization process

Alidans accurately selects the plant raw materials, the extraction techniques and extraction-related parameters to give to each customer its own personalized extract. Every extract is purposely produced to meet particular functional, organoleptic, marketing needs.
 
Thanks to a personalized extract, it is possible to take advantage of the properties of a plant that, although well known in the folk medicine, is not in the market yet. It is also possible to prepare novel and potentially patentable extracts even from plants already known and consolidated in the market.

Some examples are:

•  Extracts enriched in the active ingredients of interest
•  Extracts with a low content of undesired substances
•  Extracts with particular sensory features (smell, color, taste, etc.)
•  Extracts with sustained physico-chemical stability
•  Other extracts that can be produced according to specific customers’ needs.

In silico design of extracts

The plant extract production process is ruled by many parameters. Thus, selection of the extraction conditions the most suitable to obtain a personalized and standardized plant extract is a very complex operation.
 
Thanks to the in silico simulation of extraction processes, Alidans develops computational models that suggest how to select and change extraction conditions in order to drive the process toward the desired extract. This allows saving experimentation, time and costs usually required to set up an extraction process.
 
As a result, Alidans personalizes the extracts by applying procedures supported by bioinformatic tools, such as data mining, text mining, quantitative structure/property relationships (QSPR), quantum mechanic/termodynamic modeling, matter and energy balances.

Extraction techniques

Some examplary techniques that can be used for plant extract production are:

• squeezing
• maceration
• digestion
• decoction
• infusion
• percolation
• steam distillation
• supercritical fluid extraction (such as supercritical CO2)
• ultrasonic extraction
• hydrodistillation

Titration and chemical characterization of extracts

According to the REACH ((CE) 1907/2006) regulation, plant extracts are classified as “Substance of Unknown or Variable composition, Complex reaction products or Biological materials”, or “UVCB substances”. Having a relatively high number of constituents or a partially unknown or variable composition, said subtances cannot be sufficiently identified based only on their chemical composition. In this case, retrieving additional information, such as chromatographic or spectroscopic fingerprints, are needed.
 
The capability of an extract di elicit its pharmacological, dermocosmetic, nutraceutical or sensory effects directly correlates to the concentration of the active ingredients contained, that is its “titre”. Titration consists of a series of analyses and phytochemical characterizations carried out on an extract sample, and allows quantifying one or more components of interest. Each time, the most appropriate analitical methods (usually chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques, or other methods selected based on the chemical class to be characterized) are applied.

Characterization of extract safety and efficacy

The evaluation of safety and efficacy profile of a plant extract relies on the analysis of data and information coming from various sources:

1. Searches in the scientific literature regarding pharmacological, dermocosmetic, nutraceutical and sensory effects, as well as toxicological data, of the plant and its phyto-components.
2. In silico evaluation of biological, pharmacological, dermocosmetic, nutraceutical and sensory effects and  physico-chemical features of the extract, by taking advantage of several bioinformatic techniques.
3. Performing in vitro, clinical, sensory or consumer tests.

Standardization
 
To ensure reproducibility of the desired effects of a plant extract, it must be “standardized”: it must guarantee a constant titre of the active ingredients and all the substances of interest throughout different production batches.
Many parameters are associated with the different plant extract production steps and they have to be all strictly controlled to obtain standardized extracts.
 

• Parameters related to the plant and its culturing: plant variety, conditions used t set up and maintain the culture, harvest period, etc.
• Parameters related to the extraction production: instruments used, extraction time and temperature, presence or absence of stirring, squeezing pressure, etc.
• Parameters related to the chemical characterization of the extracts: operation conditions of the selected analytical method, etc.

 
Thus, it becomes clear that controlling the entire supply chain is crucial at all stages: from the selection of the plant, through the transformation operations that must be carried out according to good manufacturing practices (GMP), to the finished extract. By applying a strict quality control to the entire production process, the extract will result standardized in its chemical (titre of the substances of interest) and physical (appearance, density, solubility, etc.) features.

Certifications

Every extract is supplied provided with:

• technical sheet
• data safety sheet
• analysis certificate
• upon customers’ request, other optional certifications such as:

          - organic product certified according to the Council Regulation (CE) 834/2007
          - organic cosmetic product according to NT/CB 01
          - Cosmos certification
          - NaTrue certification
          - Eco Bio Cosmesi certification
          - Vegan certification
          - etc.