Natural Products and Their Synthetic Scaffolds for Chronic Diseases: A Ray of Hope

Book excerpt: From decades, natural products have been a significant source of health remedies. The use of nature-oriented, bioactive substances in the development of new drugs and traditional medicine is still the priority of the pharmaceuticals. More than 80% to 85% of people throughout the world rely on traditional medicine (TM), as their primary form of healthcare. The easily available TM, mostly herbal products prepared from whole herbs or their extracts, have a significant economic role in many Asian, African, American, and European nations. Therefore, it has become urgent to increase the TM and its constituents' quality, safety, and effectiveness. This can only be accomplished by scientifically validating the lead compounds in TM's chemical foundation and their mode of action. Thanks to the advanced technologies and equipment’s which now has made it easy to create the scaffolds of natural products in the lab, saving a great deal of time as compared to isolating the natural product from its source.