Natural Product Chemistry

Natural products are a marvel of evolution. Plants are chemical factories and have produced a vast number of highly diverse and interesting natural substances with their extraordinary properties, which we humans have been using for centuries to relieve and cure diseases. At the latest since the discovery of penicillin, natural substances have become an important source of medicines, but we know only very few of the presumably many millions that are still waiting to be discovered. Important antibiotics, immunosuppressants, anticancer agents, hormones, and antiviral agents are among the natural products. But do natural products still matter in the age of biotechnology and genetic engineering? Yes, more than ever, because medicinal chemists draw creative inspiration for their syntheses from nature to develop the next blockbuster in medicine.

Traditionally, the search for new compounds from natural products has been a time- and resource-intensive process.