THE CHEMISTRY OF NATURAL PRODUCTS: ISOLATION, CHARACTERIZATION, AND APPLICATIONS

Natural products have served as a cornerstone of chemical and pharmaceutical sciences for centuries, providing structurally diverse and biologically potent molecules derived from plants, microorganisms, marine organisms, and animal sources. The chemistry of natural products encompasses the systematic processes of isolation, purification, structural elucidation, biosynthetic understanding, and chemical modification of bioactive metabolites. Advances in extraction technologies, chromatographic separation, and spectroscopic characterization including high-field nuclear magnetic resonance, high-resolution mass spectrometry, and X-ray crystallography have significantly accelerated the identification of novel compounds. Understanding biosynthetic pathways such as the shikimate, mevalonate, acetate malonate, and non-ribosomal peptide synthesis routes has further enabled metabolic engineering and synthetic biology approaches for enhanced production and structural diversification. Natural products continue to play a dominant role in drug discovery, particularly in oncology, infectious diseases, immunology, and metabolic disorders, while also contributing to nutraceuticals, agriculture, cosmetics, and industrial biotechnology. Despite challenges related to sustainability, structural complexity, and supply limitations, integration of green chemistry, genomics, and computational tools has revitalized natural product research. This review comprehensively discusses the sources, isolation strategies, structural characterization techniques, biosynthetic mechanisms, chemical modification approaches, and broad applications of natural products, emphasizing their enduring significance in modern science and therapeutic innovation. Keywords: Natural products chemistry; Secondary metabolites; Isolation techniques; Chromatographic purification; Spectroscopic characterization; Biosynthetic pathways; Polyketide synthase; Non-ribosomal peptide synthesis; Structure–activity relationship.