Outline Chapter 1

IntroductionPharmacognosy: "the study of the physical, chemical, biochemical, and biological properties of drugs, drug substances, or potential drugs or drug substances of natural origin, as well as the search for new drugs from natural sources"Morphine, atropine, caffeine, cocaine, nicotine, quinine, strychnine, digoxin, reserpine, paclitaxel, vincristine, precursors of steroid hormones are all derived from natural products.Natural Product/Secondary Metabolites: a compound that has no known primary biochemical role in the producing organism, tend to be synthesized in a biologically active chiral form to increase chance of survivalCompared with synthetic products Natural products tend to have more protonated amine and free hydroxy functional groups, and more single bonds with a greater number of fused rings containing more chiral centers More steric complexity Different numbers of halogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur atoms

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