Natural Products - 9783642221439

The proposed volumes are intended to provide all the information regarding medicinal plants and phytochemicals at one place to researchers and teachers. Phytochemicals, by the strictest definition, are chemicals that are produced by plants. During the last two decades, many groups are actively involved in exploring the plants for useful metabolites that leads to identification of several useful curative agents and many promising molecules to fight/ prevent diseases, including carcinogenesis and stroke. When we talk about phytochemicals, there are also medicinal plants where not a single molecule is responsible for the observed properties. The volumes will contain contributions on phytochemicals and herbal extracts. A large number of natural products obtained from plants and microorganisms are used in cosmetic, drug, flavor and fragrance industries. Medicinal herbs and phytochemicals are selected on the basis of importance of the compounds. Authors are selected by the contributions scientists made in the field. The present reference work will encompass the information about well established phytochemicals, biology and biotechnology of medicinal plants or their products, their biosynthesis, novel production strategies, demand and uses, metabolism and bioavailability. While there is a surge of information published in recent years on herbal medicine and their pharmacologic effects and books are available on each subject, researches who wish to keep a pace with the rapidly developing field of natural products can consult this newly compiled handbook. All information about bioactive molecules and medicinal plants is available at one place.