ABSTRACT
The marine environment is an untapped resource compared to the terrestrial ecosystem, which has been utilized extensively for natural products. Marine pharmacology is relatively a recent field that started its journey in 1950s, and since then around 14,000 phytocompounds have been discovered with a plethora of bioactivities. Currently, there is a growing interest in this field and more researchers are involved in this novel field of pharmacology. This chapter focuses on the marine natural products; the processes involved in marine natural product research (from the collection, extraction, fractionation, bioassay-screening to the structural elucidation of purified products). An outline on the evolutionary and ecological implications of marine secondary metabolites is also discussed. This chapter also summarizes major secondary metabolites isolated from marine organisms against inflammation, cancer, hypertension, pain, cardiovascular diseases, HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), other viruses, and bacteria. A brief outline on the limitations and challenges faced by the marine drug industry and future prospects has also been presented.
