Basic Scientific Characterisation

Abstract

Where does it all start? As we have seen in the previous chapter, chemical identification of therapeutically useful substances commenced with their isolation from naturally occurring materials. Once the constituent chemicals in naturally occurring substances of vegetable origin had been separated (often a difficult task since they usually consist of complicated mixtures) they could then be individually identified. As this occurred in the wake of the burgeoning science of chemistry, it was not long in many instances before the individual constituents could be synthesised by different routes rather than relying on extraction processes for a suitable supply.