Discovery of Novel Natural Products for Treatment of Drug Resistant Microbial Pathogens

Abstract

The field of natural products chemistry utilizes nature for medicinal purposes. The term natural product represents compounds derived from living organisms such as microorganisms, plants, invertebrates and vertebrates1. Natural products are almost exclusively secondary metabolites, compounds that play ecologically important roles in how the living organism deals with their surroundings1. Historically, natural products have played a vital role in medicine, providing many anticancer, antiviral, and antibacterial remedies. Many revolutionary and novel drugs have been developed from natural products including morphine, aspirin, quinine, paclitaxel, and, most noteworthy, penicillin2 .