Abstract
Since prehistoric times man has used plant extracts to heal and to kill. Folklore abounds in references to the use of plant extracts in the healing of a variety of illnesses; examples of applications as agents of death range from that of calabar beans and hemlock as judicial poisons to that of the South American curare arrow poisons [1]. In modern times organic compounds isolated from cultures of microorganisms, as well as from plants, have been used for the cure of disease (e.g. penicillin and tetracycline antibiotics). These organic compounds from natural sources form a large group known as natural products, or secondary metabolites.
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© 1981 R. B. Herbert
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Herbert, R.B. (1981). Introduction. In: The Biosynthesis of Secondary Metabolites. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-5833-3_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-5833-3_1
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