Natural products are chemical compounds produced by living organisms, encompassing the secondary metabolites of plants, microbes, fungi and marine life that are not strictly required for primary growth but mediate ecological functions such as defence, communication and competition. They are distinguished by extraord…
Natural products are chemical compounds produced by living organisms, encompassing the secondary metabolites of plants, microbes, fungi and marine life that are not strictly required for primary growth but mediate ecological functions such as defence, communication and competition. They are distinguished by extraordinary structural diversity, spanning alkaloids, terpenoids, polyketides, flavonoids and peptides, which arises from dedicated biosynthetic pathways and confers a wide range of biological activities. Because their scaffolds have been shaped by evolutionary pressures to interact with biological targets, natural products have long served as a principal source of drug leads, antimicrobials, antioxidants and nutraceuticals, and they remain central to bioactivity screening and medicinal chemistry. Their study typically integrates extraction and isolation, structural elucidation, characterisation of biosynthesis, and assays of pharmacological potency and toxicity. Work in this area reflects these themes through investigations of nutraceuticals and functional foods, antimycotic leaf extracts evaluated against dermatophytes, phytochemicals more broadly, bioactive compounds derived from algae and cyanobacteria, the cytotoxic potential of damsin and its derivatives, and chitin together with the chitinase Enzymes that process it. Collectively such research illustrates how compounds of natural origin are identified, chemically defined and assessed for therapeutic and functional applications.
12 peer-reviewed articles, ranked by relevance. Each links to its DOI.
The 12 articles above have been cited 491 times in the scholarly literature. Citation data via OpenAlex and Crossref, updated Jun 2026.
A sample of recent works citing this journal's research on Natural Products, linking to each citing work.