Secondary Metabolites from Natural Products

Abstract

Natural products are substances that are confined from living organisms, they are in the form of primary or secondary metabolites. Secondary metabolites are compounds with varied chemical structures, produced by some plants and strains of microbial species. Unlike primary metabolites (nucleotides, amino acids, carbohydrates, and lipids) that are essential for growth, secondary metabolites are not. Secondary metabolites are produced or synthesized during the stationary stage. In this chapter, we will discuss secondary metabolites from natural products synthesized mainly by plants, fungi, and bacteria. Plants synthesize a large diversity of secondary metabolites; plant secondary metabolites are split into four groups namely alkaloids, phenolic compounds, terpenoids, and glucosinolates. Several classes of fungal and bacterial secondary metabolites, their sources, and pharmacological uses associated with the secondary metabolites are also discussed. Therefore, several classes of secondary metabolites are responsible for the biological and pharmacological activities of plants and herbal medicines.

Grape by-Products: Potential Sources of Phenolic Compounds for Novel Functional Foods

“…On the other hand, grape pomace contains bioactive compounds, such as phenols, which have potentially beneficial effects on human health [30][31][32][33][34]. These phenolics are secondary plant metabolites [35,36] and possess antioxidant [25], antiviral [37], antimicrobial [38,39], and anti-inflammatory [40,41] properties that vary by grape variety. The constant interest in the biological activity of organically grown grapes and grape by-products contributes to their capitalization as a source of bioactive phytochemicals with potential applications in the cosmetics, pharmaceutical, and food industries [6,7,26,27,42].…”

Current Landscape of Methods to Evaluate Antimicrobial Activity of Natural Extracts

“…In this context, natural products represent an immense source of biologically active components [ 11 , 12 ]. Both primary and secondary metabolites synthesized by mammalian and plant cells, as well as microorganisms, have influenced the development of effective treatments for an array of diseases and health conditions, including infectious diseases, inflammatory processes, and cancer [ 13 , 14 , 15 ]. Although technological development has enabled improved extraction and characterization techniques of natural compounds [ 16 , 17 ], screening strategies are not always capable of unwrapping the mechanism of the isolated compounds responsible for the combinatory effect [ 18 ].…”

Graphene Oxide Nanostructures as Nanoplatforms for Delivering Natural Therapeutic Agents: Applications in Cancer Treatment, Bacterial Infections, and Bone Regeneration Medicine

“…Their categorization is frequently dependent on the precise paths they follow throughout the synthesis [61]. Therefore, these natural products can be classified into four major groups: alkaloids (including pyrrolidines, pyrrolizidines, pyridines, tropanes, isoquinolines, indoles, quinolines, and the terpenoids and steroids), phenolic compounds (including phenolic acids, flavonoids, stilbenes, tannins, and lignans), terpenoids (monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, diterpenes, sesterpenes, and triterpenes), and glucosinolates (sulfur-containing compounds) [62]. In Table 1, several examples of these compounds with their chemical structures are presented.…”