ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the basic chemical principles and terminology that are used throughout, along with an introduction to the biosynthetic processes through which plants manufacture the chemicals. The field of medicine has long been divided between so-called ‘rationalist’ and ‘vitalistic’ principles. While the rationalist/scientific model has held sway for the last couple of centuries, vitalistic concepts of health and healing have made a comeback. Since herbal medicines are products of the biological world, their properties and characteristics can be studied using the accumulated skills and knowledge embedded in the natural sciences—especially botany and chemistry or biochemistry. Photosynthesis is a process by which the leaves of plants manufacture carbohydrates and oxygen, using carbon dioxide from the air and water absorbed from the roots. The biosynthetic pathways are universal in plants and are responsible for the occurrence of both primary metabolites and secondary metabolites.
