Editorial - (2021) Volume 9, Issue 5
I am pleased to introduce that the journal of Natural Products Chemistry & Research deals with chemical compounds found in nature that usually has a pharmacological or biological activity for use in pharmaceutical drug discovery and drug design. Natural Products Chemistry & Research emphasizes articles related to the study of chemistry and biochemistry of naturally occurring compounds or the biology of living systems from which they are obtained. Natural Products Journal is at higher echelons that enhance the intelligence and information dissemination on topics closely related to Natural Products. They provide a unique forum dedicated to scientists to express their research articles, review articles, case reports and short communications on an array of Natural Products research. The Natural Products Peer Reviewed Journal is proficiently supported by universally prominent Editorial Board members. Natural Products journal impact factor is mainly calculated based on the number of articles that undergo a double blind peer review process by competent Editorial Board so as to ensure excellence, essence of the work and number of citations received for the same published articles. Abstracts and full texts of all articles published by Natural Products Open Access articles are freely accessible to everyone immediately after publication.
BIOMOLECULE
Biomolecule, also called biological molecule, any of numerous substances that are produced by cells and living organisms. Biomolecules have a wide range of sizes and structures and perform a vast array of functions. The four major types of biomolecules are carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids, and proteins.
AROMATIC PLANTS
Aromatic plants are often used as natural medicines because of their remedial and inherent pharmacological properties. Looking into natural resources, particularly products of plant origin, has become an exciting area of research in drug discovery and development. Aromatic plants are mainly exploited for essential
oil extraction for applications in industries, for example, in cosmetics, flavoring and fragrance, spices, pesticides, repellents and herbal beverages. Although several medicinal plants have been studied to treat various conventional ailments only a handful studies are available on aromatic plants, especially for radioprotection. Many plant extracts have been reported to contain antioxidants that scavenge free radicals produced due to radiation exposure, thus imparting radioprotective efficacy. The present review focuses on a subset of medicinally important aromatic plants with radioprotective activity.
PHYTOCHEMICALS
Phytochemicals are substances produced mainly by plants, and these substances have biological activity. In the pharmaceutical industry, plants represent the main source to obtain various active ingredients. They exhibit pharmacological effects applicable to the treatment of bacterial and fungal infections and also chronic- degenerative diseases such as diabetes and cancer. However, the next step in science is to find new ways to obtain it. In this chapter, we discuss about the main groups of phytochemicals, in addition to presenting two case studies. One of the most important secondary metabolites is currently Taxol, which is a natural compound of the taxoid family and is also known for its antitumor activity against cancer located in breasts, lungs, and prostate and is also effective with Kaposi’s sarcoma. Our case studies will be about Taxol, extracted from an unexplored plant species, and the production of Taxol by its endophytic fungi.
BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS
A type of chemical found in small amounts in plants and certain foods (such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, oils, and whole grains). Bioactive compounds have actions in the body that may promote good health. They are being studied in the prevention of cancer, heart disease, and other diseases. Bioactive compounds are those food components that have an effect on the body as a whole or specific tissues or cells. These compounds include non-pro-vitamin A carotenoids and polyphenols, phytosterols, fatty acids, and peptides. The definition of "bioactive compound" knows dynamism, because the scientific research on the bioactivity potential is booming nowadays. And since there is no unifying definition, attempts to find a consensus and some common elements of the concept associated with the term "bioactive" did not stop, even if vague definitions and repeated use of the operative word "bioactive" almost integrated the term in a category of magic words! This paper tried to find a combined definition which can be a platform to develop the "bioactive" concept, and reach a solid consensus on the term "bioactive compound".
SYNTHETIC DRUGS
Synthetic drugs are designed to mimic organic botanical compounds, but they often contain highly processed chemicals. The body has difficulty recognizing synthetic drugs, which makes them harder to process and metabolize. For this reason, these drugs are more likely to induce toxicity and adverse side effects. Common examples of synthetic drugs include most all prescription drugs, crack-cocaine, MDMA (ecstasy), and methamphetamine.
, DOI: 10.35248/2329-6836.21.9.e406
Copyright:This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
