Analytical Techniques for Natural Product Research

Plants are an important source of lead molecules for drug discovery. These lead molecules serve as starting materials for laboratory synthesis of drugs as well as a model for production of biologically active compounds. Phytochemical processing of raw plant materials is essentially required to optimize the concentration of known constituents and also to maintain their activities. Extraction techniques and analytical techniques have played critical roles in phytochemical processing of raw materials. Extraction technologies from conventional extraction to green extraction as well as analytical techniques from single technique to hyphenated/coupled techniques most frequently used in phytochemistry laboratories are covered in the book.