ABSTRACT
In the modern context, “natural products” collectively refer to the reservoir of metabolites supplied by nature, mainly from plants and microbes. For decades, natural products have been a wellspring of drugs and lead compounds for drug discovery. The primary driving forces for the long-lasting interest in natural product research have been the continuously emerging evidence supporting the health-promoting and pharmaceutical potentials of many of these natural gifts. Statistically,
plant-derived pharmaceuticals have consistently comprised a signifi cant market share of prescribed medicines and “over the counter” products in developed countries.1-3 The use of plant materials for combating diseases can be dated back to ancient times. The roles of traditional herbal medicines are particularly prominent in Asian countries, such as China, Japan, and India, and integration of these herbal medicines into the modern medical practice is quite common.
