Chemical Diversity in Nature Produces Potent Drugs of Various Ailments; Natural Products

Abstract

Nature is a unique source of structures of high phytochemical diversity, many of them possessing interesting pharmacological activities and medicinal properties. Many important substances were obtained anciently, e.g. foodstuffs, building materials, dyes and other extracts from nature. Natural products remain a prominent source for the discovery of new drugs and drug leads even from Vedic period. Population growth insufficient supply of drugs, prohibitive cost of treatments, side effects of allopathic drugs and development of resistance to currently used drugs for infectious diseases have increased attention on plant materials as a source of medicines for a wide variety of health disease.