ABSTRACT
Plants produce a large amount of primary metabolites of lipids, protein, and carbohydrates. Plants also produce a broad range of bioactive compounds of secondary metabolites, which can be classified into three main groups of phenolics, terpenoids, and alkaloids. Extraction techniques have been widely investigated to obtain such valuable natural compounds from plants to be used in the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics industries (Wang and Weller 2006). Many of those phytochemicals, such as flavonoids and carotenoids, have been determined to be beneficial to the human body in preventing or treating one or more diseases or improving physiological performance (Wildman 2002).
