As synthetic antioxidants that are widely used in foods are known to cause detrimental health effects, studies on natural additives as potential antioxidants are becoming increasingly important. In this work, the total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant activity of Ficus carica Linn latex from 18 cultivars were investigated. The TPC of latex was calculated using the Folin–Ciocalteu assay. 1,1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2′-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) and ferric ion reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) were used for antioxidant activity assessment. The bioactive compounds from F. carica latex were extracted via maceration and ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) with 75% ethanol as solvent. Under the same extraction conditions, the latex of cultivar ‘White Genoa’ showed the highest antioxidant activity of 65.91% ± 1.73% and 61.07% ± 1.65% in DPPH, 98.96% ± 1.06% and 83.04% ± 2.16% in ABTS, and 27.08 ± 0.34 and 24.94 ± 0.84 mg TE/g latex in FRAP assay via maceration and UAE, respectively. The TPC of ‘White Genoa’ was 315.26 ± 6.14 and 298.52 ± 9.20 µg GAE/mL via the two extraction methods, respectively. The overall results of this work showed that F. carica latex is a potential natural source of antioxidants. This finding is useful for further advancements in the fields of food supplements, food additives and drug synthesis in the future.

The present study focused on the preparation of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) and nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) from pineapple ( Ananas comosus L.) leaves using chemical treatments followed by acid hydrolysis. Pineapple leaves could be used in medical applications such as drug delivery carriers. Advanced spectroscopy techniques such as Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to analyze the physical, chemical, and morphological features of the isolated MCC and NCC; the results indicated the needle-shaped form of nanostructures with good purity and high crystallinity index of 75.00 and 76.38%, respectively. In addition, inhibition of the treated MRC-5 cells with all the samples revealed that the percentage of cell viability was less than 30%, which is an interesting finding given their role in the cytotoxicity effect of MCC and NCC. It appears that MCC and NCC derived from pineapple leaves have lower toxicity. As a result, the developed MCC and NCC can be used in pharmaceutical applications as a novel drug delivery system. Molecular docking was performed to understand the non-bonding interaction of cellulose with human acid-beta-glucosidase (β-Glc) (PDB: 1OGS). The docking result shows that cellulose unit docked within the active pocket of the enzyme by forming hydrogen bonds against ASN19, THR21, and VAL17 with distances of 2.18, 1.93, and 2.92 Å, respectively, with binding energy (−5.0 kcal/mol) resulting in close interaction of cellulose unit with the receptor.

In this study, microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) was extracted from various types of local agricultural wastes. Four types of agricultural waste such as coconut coir, banana stem, sugarcane bagasse and pineapple leaves were collected, extracted and hydrolyzed into microcrystalline cellulose, using pre-treatment (alkaline and bleaching) and acid hydrolysis, respectively. The extracted MCC were analyzed and compared with those of commercially available MCC. The study of crystallinity behaviors of the obtained MCC was performed by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis. The XRD of MCC revealed that the crystallinity of pineapple leaves has the highest crystallinity index with 75% in value and closest compared to commercial MCC, 81.25%. The value of crystallinity index for banana stem is 74.55% followed by coconut coir, 72.73% and sugarcane bagasse, 66.50%. All of the MCC samples showed the similar pattern with the typical crystalline structure of cellulose I. The crystallite size of all MCC samples was calculated and found in the range of 4.04 – 5.14 nm. These extracted MCC that obtained from several agricultural wastes was supposed to have a high potential as value-added products in industrial applications.

In this work, chemically treated microcrystalline cellulose (MCC-C) was extracted from coconut husk fiber. In order to extract hemicellulose, the sieved coconut husk fiber was treated with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) for dewaxing and acidified using sodium chlorite (NaClO₂) to extract the residual lignin (bleaching process). The obtained lignin-free cellulose was then treated with potassium hydroxide (KOH). The characterizations used to equate the MCC-C with commercial grade microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) are solubility test, X-ray diffractogram (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The XRD showed that the crystallinity of MCC and MCC-C increased significantly by 80.15% and 71.8% by chemical treatments. TGA found that the active removal of lignin-hemicelluloses and the thermal stability of the material were about 350–500°C and 300–500°C. The morphology of the fiber confirmed that there is an irregular cross-section, non-uniform surface, a large amount of short microfibrils and some impurities on the surface of the coconut husk fiber. The findings showed that microcrystalline cellulose has been successfully extracted from coconut husk fiber and that it can be used further.

Microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) was successfully extracted from coconut husk fibre (CHF) and pineapple leaf fibres (PLF) using alkali and bleaching treatments. The extracted cellulose from the chemical treatments were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). XRD analysis revealed that the extracted microcellulose from CHF and PLF using chemical treatments have high crystallinity. The thermal stability analysis of the extracted microcrystalline celluloses was investigated revealed that the CHF and PLF lose their lignin and hemicellulose during chemical treatments. Morphological investigation using SEM shows that chemical treatment could remove the layer of extractives from surface of CHF and PLF.