Giancarlo Cravotto

Università degli Studi di Torino | UNITO

Nowadays, the world is facing a general problem of resource overconsumption and waste overproduction: to address these two issues, the United Nations delivered the 12th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), which has the objective of ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns. Currently, polymers are present in every aspect of our lives...

In this paper, complexes of soluble dietary fiber (SDF) and polyphenols (PPs) isolated from lotus roots were prepared (SDF-PPs), as well as physical mixtures (SDF&PPs), which were given to high-fat-diet (HFD)-fed mice. The results demonstrated that SDF-PPs improve lipid levels and reverse liver injury in hyperlipidemic mice. Western blotting and re...

BACKGROUND To manage industrial waste in accordance with the circular bioeconomy concept it is sometimes necessary to handle grape seeds, an abundant by‐product of the wine‐making process. This study presents a process based on ultrasound technology for the extraction of grape‐seed proteins, due to their nutritional and techno‐functional properties...

The degradation in water of furosemide (FUR), a widely used diuretic drug, was herein reported. The method entails an integrated approach based on the hybridisation of hydrodynamic cavitation (HC) with electrical discharge (ED) plasma technology. This dynamic duo could increase the production of oxidising compounds in water, in particular hydroxyl...

The United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP’s) Food Waste Index Report 2021 highlights a global annual food waste of 1 billion tons. The UNEP plays a crucial role in achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12.3, which aims to halve per capita global food waste (FW) at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production...

This review focuses on the utilization of apple waste for antimicrobial applications, aiming to enhance its value. The use of sub- and supercritical fluids for extracting biological molecules is emphasized as a promising eco-extraction technology. The study highlights the significant antimicrobial activities observed in the extracts obtained from a...

Pectin is a renewable, non–toxic and biodegradable polymer made of galacturonic acid units. Its polar groups make it suitable for complexing and supporting metallic nanoparticles (NPs). This work aimed to produce antibacterial nanocomposites using pectin and acoustic cavitation. The metal NPs (Au or Ag) were deposited using ultrasound (US, 21 kHz,...

Citation: Colletti, A.; Procchio, C.; Pisano, M.; Martelli, A.; Pellizzato, M.; Cravotto, G. An Evaluation of the Effects of Pineapple-Extract and Bromelain-Based Treatment after Mandibular Third Molar Surgery: A Randomized Three-Arm Clinical Study. Nutrients 2024, 16, 784. Abstract: A three-arm, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical study was co...

The multidisciplinary "Green Extraction" approach has recently been expanded by merging the concepts of Green Chemistry and the Circular Economy. This approach considers waste from different production chains to be a valuable resource for other sectors, and can significantly improve the economic and environmental sustainability of current proces...

The development of selective extraction protocols for Cannabis-inflorescence constituents is still a significant challenge. The characteristic Cannabis fragrance can be mainly ascribed to monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes and oxygenated terpenoids. This work investigates the entrapment of Cannabis terpenes in olive oil from inflorescences via stripping...

A three-arm, randomized, placebo controlled clinical study has been performed to evaluate the effects of a lyophilized pineapple extract titrated in bromelain (Brome-Inf®), and purified bro-melain on pain, swelling, trismus and quality of life (QoL) after the surgical removal of the lower third molars. Moreover, the need for non-steroidal anti-infl...

The degradation in water of furosemide (FUR), a widely used diuretic drug, was herein reported. The method entails an integrated approach based on the hybridisation of hydrodynamic cavitation (HC) with electrical discharge (ED) plasma technology. This dynamic duo could increase the production of oxidising compounds in water, in particular hydroxyl...

The growing demand for alternative clean energy and environmental crises arose great concerns for humankind. Researchers have devoted effort in finding cheap, eco-friendly, and robust functional materials for future developments...

A robust supported catalyst that is made up of copper nanoparticles on Celite has been successfully prepared for the selective transfer hydrogenation of aromatic nitrobenzenes to anilines under continuous flow. The method is efficient and environmentally benign thanks to the absence of hydrogen gas and precious metals. Long-term stability studies s...

Textiles and nonwovens (including those used in ventilation systems as filters) are currently one of the main sources of patient cross-infection. Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) affect 5-10% of patients and stand as the tenth leading cause of death. Therefore, the development of new methods for creating functional nanostructured coatings wi...

Mechanochemical treatment of various organic molecules is an emerging technology of green processes in biofuel, fine chemicals, or food production. Many biopolymers are involved in isolating, derivating, or modifying molecules of natural origin. Mechanochemistry provides a powerful tool to achieve these goals, but the unintentional modification of...

Virgin olive oil (VOO) production is in a constant state of evolution as it adapts to meet the demands of an increasingly competitive global market. However, despite the significant research effort undertaken across multiple scientific disciplines, this vegetable oil still presents challenges and vulnerabilities that require continued research. Wit...

This review aims to highlight current emerging technologies for the valorization of the bioactive fraction of waste from cherry and grape processing industries through its recovery and conversion into high added-value products. Due to its richness in diverse functional and health-related metabolites, the valorization of cherry residue and grape res...

Several different Cannabis-based pharmaceutical preparations have been approved for medical treatments. Standardization to ensure specified phytocannabinoid contents and to maintain the integrity of the product is therefore required. Olive oil is clearly a safe and edible solvent suitable for the galenic preparation of ready-to-use Cannabis extract...

In recent years, there is a growing interest in nutraceutical-rich functional foods for promoting human health. Wild fruits and berries are excellent sources of phytochemicals even though the most deeply studied are the polyphenolic compounds, among them, the major ones such as flavonoids, anthocyanins, or tannins. This review aimed to comprehensiv...

Honey is a food product consumed all over the world. Besides its nutritional properties, honey presents antibacterial, antioxidant, and wound-healing properties. To ensure that the final product meets qualitative and microbiological standards, honey treatment is of great importance. Conventional honey treatment is based on the heating of honey samp...

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is well known for its high content of bioactives, including polyphenols, flavonoids, and tannins, which have been shown to exhibit a wide range of biological activities, such as antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anticancer effects. It is worth noting that the majority of these molecules are found in the peels, which a...

This paper reports a new sustainable protocol for the microwave-assisted catalytic conversion of levulinic acid into N-substituted pyrrolidones over tailor-made mono (Pd, Au) or bimetallic (PdAu) catalysts supported on either highly mesoporous silica (HMS) or titania-doped HMS, exploiting the advantages of dielectric heating. MW-assisted reductive...

Reductive amination is a powerful tool in sustainable organic synthesis that allows chemists to access a wide range of valuable amine products using renewable feedstocks and mild reaction conditions, with minimal waste generation. Practical applications can be found in various fields, including pharmaceuticals, contributing to greener and more sust...

Reductive amination is a powerful tool in sustainable organic synthesis that allows chemists to access a wide range of valuable amine products using renewable feedstocks, mild reaction con-ditions, and with minimal waste generation. Practical applications can be found in various fields, including pharmaceuticals, contributing to greener and more su...

Herein, an efficient, simple and economical approach to remove antibiotics (ABX), i.e. ceftiofur hydrochloride, sulfamonomethoxine sodium (SMM), marbofloxacin and oxytetracycline by sonication with activated carbon (AC) from cow milk has been successfully implemented. The pseudo-first-order kinetics constants for the sonolytic and sonocatalytic deg...

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is well known for its high content in bioactives including polyphenols, flavonoids and tannins, which have been shown to exhibit a wide range of biological activity such as antioxidant, antimicrobial and anticancer effects. It is worth noting that the majority of these molecules are found in the peels (PP), which ar...

We have performed ultrasonic liquid phase exfoliation (LPE) of MgB2 in ethanol and investigated the resulting nano-assemblies as a function of the ultrasound processing time. TEM morphological and structural analysis, along with STM topographic characterization, showed that for short sonication times, the exfoliated grains preserve the MgB2 crystal...

Bromelain is a mixture of cysteine endopeptidase usually extracted from pineapple juice and is used for the treatment of various human diseases and in industrial applications. Bromelain demand is quickly increasing, and its recovery from pineapple residues appears to be a sustainable waste management strategy. Pineapple core is among the most signi...

Antibiotics (ABX) residues frequently occurred in water and cow milk. This work aims to understand the kinetics and mechanisms of sonolytic degradation of four ABX, i.e. ceftiofur hydrochloride (CEF), sulfamonomethoxine sodium (SMM), marbofloxacin (MAR), and oxytetracycline (OTC) in water and milk. In both water and milk, the sonolytic degradation...

A β-carotene rich emulsion with improved physical and chemical stability was obtained in this study, using different types of protein-polysaccharide-polyphenol ternary complexes as novel emulsifiers. The ternary complexes were prepared by covalent or non-covalent binding of soy protein isolate (SPI), β-glucan (DG) and myricetin (MC), which were evi...

The recovery of valuable bioactive compounds from the main underutilised by-products of the food industry is one of the greatest challenges to be addressed in circular economy. Potato peels are the largest waste generated during potato processing. However, they could be a potential source of valuable bioactive compounds, such as polyphenols, that c...

Meropenem is currently the most common carbapenem in clinical applications. Industrially, the final synthetic step is characterized by a heterogeneous catalytic hydrogenation in batch mode with hydrogen and Pd/C. The required high-quality standard is very difficult to meet and specific conditions are required to remove both protecting groups [i.e.,...

The crucial role of dyslipidaemia, especially hypercholesterolemia, in the development of atherosclerosis-related cardiovascular diseases has been extensively documented in genetic, pathologic, observational and intervention studies. The European guidelines for dyslipidaemia management include the possible use of lipid-lowering nutraceuticals to su...

Microwave (MW)‐assisted reductive aminations of aldehydes and ketones were carried out in the presence of commercial and homemade heterogeneous Rh‐based catalysts. Ultrasound (US) was used to improve dispersion and stability of metal nanoparticles, while commercial activated carbon and carbon nanofibers were used as supports. Moreover, various bio‐...

Frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs), discovered in the last few decades for homogeneous catalysts and in the last few years also for heterogeneous catalysts, are stimulating the scientific community's interest for their potential in small-molecule activation. Nevertheless, how an FLP activates stable molecules such as CO2 is still undefined. Through a ca...

In this study, a novel hydrodynamic cavitation unit combined with a glow plasma discharge system (HC-GPD) was proposed for the degradation of pharmaceutical compounds in drinking water. Metronidazole (MNZ), a commonly used broad-spectrum antibiotic, was selected to demonstrate the potential of the proposed system. Cavitation bubbles generated by hy...

The chestnut tree (Castanea sativa, Mill.) is a widespread plant in Europe whose fruits and wood has a relevant economic impact. Chestnut wood (CW) is rich in high-value compounds that exhibit various biological activities, such as antioxidant as well as anticarcinogenic and antimicrobial properties. These metabolites can be mainly divided into mon...

Continuous-flow chemistry has become a mainstream process and a notable trend among emerging technologies for drug synthesis. It is routinely used in academic and industrial laboratories to generate a wide variety of molecules and building blocks. The advantages it provides, in terms of safety, speed, cost efficiency and small-equipment footprint c...

Many scientists are working hard to find green alternatives to classical synthetic methods. Today, state-of-the-art ultrasonic and grinding techniques already drive the production of organic compounds on an industrial scale. The physicochemical and chemical behavior of cyclodextrins often differs from the typical properties of classic organic compo...

The use of ultrasound in food extraction and processing has been well documented in the literature and there are a number of examples of industrial applications. Nevertheless, the lack of reliable equipment for multi-ton scale production has limited the exploitation of cavitation technologies in the food industry for many years. The technological a...

Currently, the nutraceutical approach to treat dyslipidaemia is increasing in use, and in many cases is used by physicians as the first choice in the treatment of patients with borderline values. Nutraceuticals represent an excellent opportunity to treat the preliminary conditions not yet showing the pathological signs of dyslipidaemia. Their gener...

In this paper, the dominance of the physical effects of ultrasound (US) pretreatment in improving the delignification of wheat straw at a 1:20 solid/liquid (biomass/water) ratio is reported showing low-frequency/high power (25 kHz, 2 or 3 kW) as preferred conditions. The sonochemical pretreatment with alkali was identified as an optimal method to m...

Since the beginning of this century, the world has experienced a growing need for enabling techniques and more environmentally friendly protocols that can facilitate more rational industrial production. Scientists are faced with the major challenges of global warming and safeguarding water and food quality. Organic solvents are still widely used an...

Hexane is a solvent used extensively in the food industry for the extraction of various products such as vegetable oils, fats, flavours, fragrances, colour additives or other bioactive ingredients. As it is classified as a “processing aid”, it does not have to be declared on the label under current legislation. Therefore, although traces of hexane...

The aim of the present study is to develop a new industrial process for the continuous-flow extraction of virgin olive oil (VOO) using the non-thermal ultrasound (US) and pulsed electric field (PEF) treatments. These technologies have been tested both separately and in combination, with the aim of making the malaxation step unnecessary. The ultraso...

The biologically-derived polymers polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are biodegradable and can be considered a valuable alternative to conventional fossil-based plastics. However, upstream and downstream processes for PHA production are characterized by high energy and chemical consumption and are not economically competitive with petroleum-based polymer...

o-Phenylphenol (OPP) is not a commonly used pesticide in the coffee production chain. Although it has only been detected in roasted coffee, it is unlikely that OPP can be formed during roasting. Its acidic nature may lead to the formation of conjugates with natural matrix components. The objective of this study is to optimize an analytical method t...

Although water contamination with drug residues is a threat to public health, there are currently barely any effective methods of purifying water from pharmaceutical substances. In this study, continuous-flow sonoplasma treatment was used for the complete degradation of tetracycline and ciprofloxacin in polluted municipal water. The addition of CeO...

In this work, α-etherification of lignin in diol pretreatment was selectively enhanced at mild temperature for lignin isolation and subsequent valorisation. More than 90 % of lignin was removed from Eucalyptus at 120 °C in diol (ethylene glycol and 1,4-butanediol) pretreatment, resulting in >90 % cellulose conversion in 24 h at 7.5 FPU/g glucan cel...

Hexane is a solvent used extensively in the food industry for the extraction of various products such as vegetable oils, fats, flavours, fragrances, colour additives or other bioactive ingredients. As it is classified as a "processing aid", it does not have to be declared on the label under current legislation. Therefore, although traces of hexane...

Industrial organic synthesis is time and energy consuming, and generates substantial waste. Traditional conductive heating and mixing in batch reactors is no longer competitive with continuous-flow synthetic methods and enabling technologies that can strongly promote reaction kinetics. These advances lead to faster and simplified downstream process...

Spherical SiO2 nanoparticles (SSNs) have been inventively synthesized using the Stöber method with sonication at medium-high frequencies (80, 120, and 500 kHz), aiming to control SSN size and shorten reaction time. Compared to the conventional method, such sonication allowed the Stöber reaction complete in 20-60 min with a low molar ratio of NH4OH/...

In the present study, fucoidan was extracted from Nizamuddinia zanardinii samples using nine different green extraction techniques in addition to the conventional hot water extraction method (HW). Antioxidant (chemical and cellular assays) and emulsifying activities as well as optical properties of the different extracted fucoidans were investigate...

Cefonicid is a second-generation cephalosporin sold under the brand name Sintocef™. It is an injectable drug obtained via a freeze-drying process and is also available for oral preparations. The high-quality standard required is very challenging to satisfy, and current production protocols are characterized by steps that are lengthy and cumbersome,...

Valorization of agri-food residues to produce bio-based platform chemicals will enhance the transition to the bio-economy era. To this end, a sustainable process has been developed for the overall valorization of grape stalks (GS) according to a circular approach, starting from the lignin fraction to further deal with the cellulose-rich residue. Th...

Antibiotics (ABX) residues occur frequently in milk, causing considerable wastage of medicated milk and serious economic losses, and making the issue a burden for the dairy industry. Improper disposal of medicated milk harms dairy production, animal welfare, and the environment. This work studies the use of ozonation in a vortex reactor for removin...

Lignin is a fascinating aromatic biopolymer with high valorization potentiality. Besides its extensive value in the biorefinery context, as a renewable source of aromatics lignin is currently under evaluation for its huge potential in biomedical applications. Besides the specific antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of lignin, that depend on it...

The extraction of bioactive compounds from plant sources has always posed the question of stability, which largely depends on the extraction conditions. This study is, therefore, designed to evaluate the stability of polyphenolics from Berberis jaeschkeana fruit extracted under optimal ultrasonic-assisted extraction (UAE) conditions, and make compa...

The main goal of this work is the exploitation of the lignin fraction present in grape stalks (GS) to produce high-value-added chemicals via non-conventional and sustainable means in a three-way valorisation process. Firstly, delignification using NaOH and Natural Deep Eutectic Solvents (NaDESs), via microwave-assisted extraction (MAE), was perform...

Chestnut peels are a poorly characterized, underexploited by-product of the agri-food industry. This raw material is rich in bioactive compounds, primarily polyphenols and tannins, that can be extracted using different green technologies. Scaling up the process for industrial production is a fundamental step for the valorization of the extract. In...

Drying is one of the foremost and important steps during the processing of agricultural crops, medicinal plants and herbs to preserve their properties. The present review provides a detailed overview regarding the effect of drying techniques on the physio-chemical properties (microstructure, color, aroma composition) and bioactive compounds (phenol...

Cocoa husk is considered a waste product after cocoa processing and creates environmental issues. These waste products are rich in polyphenols, methylxanthine, dietary fibers, and phytosterols, which can be extracted and utilized in various food and health products. Cocoa beans represent only 32–34% of fruit weight. Various extraction methods were...

CPAC-SPE-HPLC (coconut powdered activated carbon -SPE- HPLC) has been developed for the determination of antibiotic (ABX), sulfamonomethoxine sodium (SMM), oxytetracycline (OTC), ceftiofur hydrochloride (CEF) and marbofloxacin (MAR), in water and milk. Over 99.0% SMM and OTC were recovered from 20 mL of 0.5 μg/mL ABX solution using 10 mg-CPAC for a...

Simple Summary The current main technological strategies for the delivery of anticancer drugs are discussed herein. This comprehensive review may help researchers design suitable delivery systems. Abstract Several drug-delivery systems have been reported on and often successfully applied in cancer therapy. Cell-targeted delivery can reduce the ove...

Cefonicid is a common second-generation cephalosporin, and the 7-amino-3-[sulphomethyl-1- H -tetrazol-5-yl-thiomethyl]-3-cephem-4-carboxylate monosodium salt is a key synthetic intermediate in its preparation. Despite the considerable international demand for this antibiotic, its preparation is hampered by low synthetic yield, long reaction time, a...

In the past, the use of mechanochemical methods in organic synthesis was reported as somewhat of a curiosity. However, perceptions have changed over the last two decades, and this technology is now being appreciated as a greener and more efficient synthetic method. The qualified “offer” of ball mills that make use of different set-ups, materials, a...

Natural product-based drug discovery necessitates highly interdisciplinary approaches. The benefits of phytochemicals for the human health are countless. Modern green extraction procedures—such as the use of cavitational reactors or the green applications of supercritical CO2 and subcritical water—have revolutionized production methods improving th...

Spherical SiO2 nanoparticles (SSNs) have been inventively synthesized using the Stöber method with sonication at medium-high frequencies (80, 120, and 500 kHz), aiming to control SSN size and shorten reaction time. Compared to the conventional method, such sonication allowed the Stöber reaction to being complete in 20-60 min with a low molar ratio...

Macroalgae are widespread on the coasts of all the globe and lead to a negative ecological impact, requiring expensive remediations. Therefore, the valorization of invasive seaweed as a renewable source of bioactive products could represent a valid solution. In this context, three algal biomasses, belonging to brown, green, and red families (Sargas...

Mechanical properties of aluminium alloy castings depend on the porosity caused by hydrogen inclusions. Ultrasonic treatment is an effective method of modifying the structure of aluminum alloys and degassing the aluminum melt. However, when casting aluminum melts into a mold, this degassing method can hardly be effectively applied on an industrial...

Many efforts have been recently made to improve the digestion efficiency by using powerful equipment or by using an auxiliary reagent. In this work, an alternative method is reported, which explores a digestion system based on a single reaction chamber (SRC) technology pressurized with O2 for reducing the amount of acid, without impairing the diges...

Nowadays, the increasing concern about the declining fossil fuel reserves and the environmental impact derived from their use has put considerable interest in lignocellulose exploitation as a renewable source of biofuels and biomaterials, according to the biorefinery concept. Several processes and technologies have been extensively studied in order...

Flexible materials, such as fabric, paper and plastic, with nanoscale particles that possess antimicrobial properties have a significant potential for the use in the healthcare sector and many other areas. The development of new antimicrobial coating formulations is an urgent topic, as such materials could reduce the risk of infection in hospitals...

We have reported a waste-minimized protocol for the Sonogashira cross-coupling exploiting the safe use of a CPME/water azeotropic mixture and the utilization of a heterogeneous hybrid palladium catalyst supported onto a silica/β-cyclodextrin matrix in continuous flow. The use of the aq CPME azeotrope has proven to be crucial to enhance the catalyst...