{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,23]],"date-time":"2026-10-23T21:08:40Z","timestamp":1792789720891,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"19","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,4]],"date-time":"2026-10-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1791072000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province","award":["262300421600"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["262300421600"]}]},{"name":"Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province","award":["262300420186"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["262300420186"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003453","name":"Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2024A01515010486"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024A01515010486"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003453","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Henan Medical University","award":["2026-HYJG-082"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2026-HYJG-082"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/038hzq450","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"award":["2026-HYJG-082"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2026-HYJG-082"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/038hzq450","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Molecules"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Chlorogenic acid (CA), the principal bioactive constituent of honeysuckle, is conventionally extracted by time-consuming methods using toxic organic solvents, which carry the risk of thermal degradation. This study provides a rapid and efficient microwave-assisted deep eutectic solvent (DES-MAE) method for CA extraction and elucidates its mechanism at the molecular level. Eight DESs were systematically screened, and extraction parameters were optimized via single-factor experiments and response surface methodology (RSM). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were performed to reveal the DES-CA interaction mechanism. Benzyltrimethylammonium chloride\u2013ethylene glycol with 40% water content was identified as optimal. Under the optimized conditions (640 W, 78 s, and 9.35 mg\/mL), the quadratic model (R2 = 0.9879) predicted a CA yield of 39.851 mg\/g, which was consistent with the experimental value of 39.431 \u00b1 0.068 mg\/g (1.1% relative deviation). DFT calculations revealed four hydrogen bonds and \u03c0-\u03c0 stacking between DES1 and CA, with a binding energy of \u221225.641 kcal\/mol, which far exceeded those of water (\u22125.277 kcal\/mol) and ethanol (\u22128.946 kcal\/mol). The DES-MAE method achieved the highest extraction yield within merely 78 s, compared with 60 min for HRE and 30 min for the pharmacopoeial method. This work provides a rapid, efficient, and mechanistically validated strategy for extracting bioactive compounds from traditional Chinese medicinal materials.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/molecules31193545","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,5]],"date-time":"2026-10-05T10:02:27Z","timestamp":1791194547000},"page":"3545","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Rapid and Efficient Extraction of Chlorogenic Acid from Honeysuckle Using Microwave-Assisted Deep Eutectic Solvents: Process Optimization and Mechanistic Investigation via Integration of Experiments and Density Functional Theory Calculations"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"31","author":[{"given":"Hongwei","family":"Wu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Basic Medical Sciences, Henan Medical University, Xinxiang 453003, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"supervision","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"funding-acquisition","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Ruixin","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Basic Medical Sciences, Henan Medical University, Xinxiang 453003, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"software","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Hu","family":"Feng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Basic Medical Sciences, Henan Medical University, Xinxiang 453003, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"formal-analysis","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Ningfei","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Basic Medical Sciences, Henan Medical University, Xinxiang 453003, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"formal-analysis","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Yongli","family":"Shi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Pharmacy, Henan Medical University, Xinxiang 453003, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"data-curation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Feng","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Henan Key Laboratory of Tissue Regeneration, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Henan Medical University, Xinxiang 453003, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"project-administration","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8931-6113","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tiancheng","family":"Mu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Chemistry and Life Resources, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"supervision","vocabulary":"credit"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"783","DOI":"10.26599\/FSHW.2024.9250051","article-title":"Function, mechanism of action, metabolism, and commercial application of Lonicera japonica: A review","volume":"14","author":"Yang","year":"2025","journal-title":"Food Sci. 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