Natural products and its scope and applications (PDF)

Scientific Essay from the year 2018 in the subject Chemistry - Analytical Chemistry, grade: 12, Vikram University (Vikram University), language: English, abstract: Natural products have played a vital role in the development of organic chemistry (purified organic compounds isolated from natural sources) by providing hectic synthetic targets. The term, Natural product has been extended to commercial purposes like cosmetics, dietary supplements and food produced without any artificial ingredient.

Natural products are the active components of traditional and modern medicines. As the structural diversity of natural products helps in the chemical synthesis, and synthetic analogs can be prepared with improved potency and safety, these are often used as the starting points of drug discovery. In the field of organic chemistry, natural products are often defined as primary and secondary metabolites. Another definition limiting natural products to secondary metabolites is used in the fields of medicinal chemistry and pharmacognosy.

The development of traditional medicinal system including plants as a means of therapy back to the middle Paleolithic age (some 60,000 years ago). Ethno-medicine (use of plant by humans as a medicine) is a highly modified approach to drug discovery. It involves observation, description in experimental investigation/screening for possible medicinal and biological properties of indigenous drugs. It is based on chemistry, botany, pharmacology, physiology, biochemistry, anthropology, history and archaeology that contribute to the discovery of natural products with medicinal activity. According to W.H.O more than 60% of the world population uses ethno-medicine as part of their basic health care.