Advances in obtaining ready to use extracts with natural solvents

Value added plant bioactives represent a renewable group of compounds with increasing demand in different applications. Conventional solvent extraction and purification stages require effective and selective solvents, but their separation and recovery are also determinant to limit the economical and environmental impact, associated to solvent evaporation and to toxic vapors. This review explores the recent advances in a very simple, not new and not always feasible approach, consisting of directly using the crude natural extract or fractions avoiding solvent removal stages. The solvent should be compatible with the final product and, if possible improve or confer novel functional/technological properties. Considering food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical uses, water, oil, glycerol and natural deep eutectic solvents are surveyed. This possibility of developing extraction processes with less unit operations and intensification strategies should be further explored to obtain novel valuable products.