Functional relevance of bioactive compounds in purple maize: a contemporary extraction progressions and prospective applications

Purple maize ( Zea mays L.), which originated in South America, has potential use in the biomedical and food industries due to its high concentration of bioactive substances which includes flavonoids, phenolic compounds and anthocyanin. The bioactive compounds have anti-angiogenesis, anti-mutagenic, anti-oxidant, anti-mutagenic, anti-carcinogenic and anti-inflammatory qualities that serve the health industries. Purple maize compounds benefit the food processing sector by affording an alternate solution to artificial colorants. Purple maize has been genetically engineered to boost the productivity of bioactive compounds by inserting several genes and employing bidirectional promoters. There are several ways for extracting bioactive chemicals from purple maize, which are classed as traditional and contemporary extraction methods. The extraction procedures were intended to suit industrial scale needs while retaining the nutritive benefits of the compounds. The review emphasizes the contemporary research on genetically altered purple maize as well as industrial scale extractions of bioactive chemicals with biomedical and food sector implications. Graphical abstract