Phytopharmacology

Phytopharmacology was invented by the Russian scientist David Macht in the 1930s. The term has since changed its meaning to become an established field of drug research, where the active substances come from plants. There is at least one established journal - the International Journal of Phytotherapy & Phytopharmacology [1]. The advantages of seeking medicines from plants are due both to the millions of years of co-evolution between plants and animals which has led to interactions between their constituent chemicals developing, and the nature of enzyme driven synthesis leading to optically pure chiral molecules whose reactions in the mammalian body can be very specific.

Many pharmacological preparations currently in use are derived from naturally occurring plant basis. Digoxin and aspirin are two of the earliest commercially refined plant preparations still available.

See also

• Phytochemistry

References

• Thomas S.C. Li, Medicinal Plants: Culture, Utilization and Phytopharmacology, (CRC Press, 2000).
• van Wyk & Wink, Medicinal Plants of the World, (Timber Press, ISBN 0881926027)