Research Area: Chemistry
General Objectives:
Natural products (NP) are chiral, complex, may be bioactive and serve as scaffolding for the synthesis of other molecules. Their structures frequently open new motifs for the industries, namely the pharmaceutical one. Screening for NP is an important tool in a variety of areas ranging from toxicology, to food safety and from traceability of materials’ biochemical origin to industrial property and regulatory issues.
NP are also part of the sustainability paradigm shift since they may be obtained from renewable sources and thus be used as raw materials for the industries as well as new energy sources (biofuels). Research in this area was included from the beginning among the thematic areas of the Associated Laboratory and is still actively pursued.
Interest remains in the use of industrial effluents in recovery processes, the identification of components of complex mixtures from a variety of origins, such as geoproducts like crude oils, human and animal tissues, and fermentation processes, alongside with food, drugs, cosmetics and environmental quality control.
NP were also used in new ways in molecular gastronomy and have been instrumental in the dynamism with which such subject is now practiced.
Research Groups:
