CHEM 6336 Medicinal Natural Products Chemistry
Natural products are an intimate part of human civilization. It is impossible to say exactly when menfolk started to take plant portions to cure various diseases. Medicinal plants have been employed for thousands of years as remedies for human ailments because of the presence of particular phytochemicals. Apart from medicinal applications, natural products have a long history of uses (and misuses) by people as poisons, narcotics, perfumes, cosmetics, malodorants, and dietary supplements, etc. This course on Medicinal Natural Products Chemistry focuses on the compound class, structure and stereochemistry, occurrence, medicinal uses, and possible biosynthetic pathway of the compounds derived from Nature. Mechanisms of action of selected natural drugs in the human body will be discussed. This course will reveal the underlying chemistry and pharmacology of natural drugs from “bench to bed”. Pharmacology & nutritional aspects of representative natural products, methods for extraction, fractionation, isolation, and structure determination of natural products will be discussed. Although the major focus will be concentrated on the plant natural products, marine, animal, and microbially-derived natural products will also be discussed. This course is specially designed for the graduate (masters) students who are intended to build a career as a medicinal/pharmaceutical professional (Ph.D. in Medicinal/Pharmaceutical Chemistry and/or a career in Pharmacology, Biotechnology or related fields, both in academia and industries).
Prerequisite
Basic knowledge in undergraduate organic chemistry is expected