Isolation and Structural Studies on New Natural Products of Potential Biological Importance

Abstract

Large sections of populations living in rural areas of the Afro-Asian countries rely on the indigenous medicinal systems for the treatment of diseases. These are largely based on the use of roots, leaves, fruits and flowers of different plant materials. Isolation, structural and synthetic studies have accordingly been directed to the discovery of new natural products in many laboratories, including ours. Our interest is however not limited to traditional medicinal plants but we also pay attention to any new leads encountered in other natural sources. For instance marine plants and animals are an invaluable source of novel secondary metabolites many which possess a wide diversity of structures and pharmacological properties which match those obtained from terrestrial organisms. Some of the recent studies carried out by us are briefly presented here.