Natural product

A natural product is a chemical or substance found in nature that was created by a living creature. Any substances produced by living things may be considered natural products. Synthetic preparations of natural compounds have been crucial to the growth of organic chemistry because of the difficulty of their starting materials. For marketing reasons, the phrase "natural product" has also been expanded to include cosmetics, nutritional supplements, and meals derived entirely from natural materials.

In organic chemistry, natural products are often defined as organic molecules extracted from natural sources and synthesised by either the main or secondary metabolic pathways. Specifically, secondary metabolites are commonly left out of the definition when it comes to medical chemistry. While secondary metabolites (also known as specialised metabolites) are not strictly necessary for life, they do provide the organisms that make them a competitive edge in the evolutionary process. Several secondary metabolites are cytotoxic, and their usage as "chemical warfare" agents against prey, predators, and competing species has been fine-tuned by evolutionary selection. Primary metabolites are universally used by all kingdoms of life, whereas secondary or specialised metabolites are typically species-specific. The chemical complexity of secondary metabolites is a major draw for scientists interested in this class of compounds.

To find bioactive components that might be developed commercially as lead compounds in drug discovery, scientists may conduct preliminary studies on these natural sources. Despite the fact that many drugs have their origins in nature, pharmaceutical companies have put less emphasis on developing drugs from natural sources in the twenty-first century. This is due in part to issues with supply and demand, intellectual property, cost, and profit, compositional changes due to seasonal or environmental factors, and the loss of sources due to increasing extinction rates.