The term “natural products” spans an extremely large and diverse range of chemical compounds derived and isolated from biological sources. Our interest in natural products can be traced back thousands of years for their usefulness to humankind, and this continues to the present day. Compounds and extracts derived from the biosphere have found uses in medicine, agriculture, cosmetics, and food in ancient and modern societies around the world. Therefore, the ability to access natural products, understand their usefulness, and derive applications has been a major driving force in the field of natural product research. The first edition of Natural Products Isolation provided readers for the first time with some practical guidance in the process of extraction and isolation of natural products and was the result of Richard Cannell’s unique vision and tireless efforts. Unfortunately, Richard Cannell died in 1999 soon after completing the first edition. We are indebted to him and hope this new edition pays adequate tribute to his excellent work. The first edition laid down the “ground rules” and established the techniques available at the time. Since its publication in 1998, there have been significant developments in some areas in natural product isolation. To capture these developments, publication of a second edition is long overdue, and we believe it brings the work up to date while still covering many basic techniques known to save time and effort, and capable of results equivalent to those from more recent and expensive techniques.

Natural Products Isolation provides a comprehensive introduction to techniques for the extraction and purification of natural products from all biological sources. Geared to scientists with little experience of natural products extraction, but offering even skilled researchers valuable advice and insight, Natural Products Isolation lays the foundation for the potential extractor to isolate natural substances efficiently. Its methods and guidance will almost certainly play a major role in today's natural product discovery and development.

Written by experienced authors, this book presents numerous natural everyday products with a high range of structural diversity. Twenty natural products have been arranged in five sections, describing three alkaloids, five colored compounds, three carbohydrates and glycosides, seven terpenoids, and two aromatic compounds. Adopting a highly didactical approach, each chapter features a uniform structure: Background, in-depth information about isolation processes and structural characterization as well as a Q&A section at the end. Alongside the theoretical information many practical hints for the laboratory work are also included. A comprehensive overview of UV-, IR- and NMR-spectroscopy as well as mass-spectrometry for every exemplified compound is provided and the understanding of these methods is supported by concluding questions and exercises. Educating and entertaining, this full-color textbook turns the learning process into a real pleasure, not only for students in natural products chemistry but also experienced professionals.

Over the past few years, increasing attention has been paid to the search for bioactive compounds from natural sources. The success of plant-derived products such as paclitaxel (Taxol) in tumor therapy or artemisinin in the treatment of malaria has provided the impetus for the introduction of numerous research programmes, especially in Industry. A great deal of effort is being expended in the generation of novel lead molecules of vegetable, marine and microbial origin by the use of high throughput screening protocols. When interesting hits are found, it is essen tial to have methods available for the rapid isolation of target compounds. For this reason, both industry and academia need efficient preparative chromatographic separation techniques and experience in their application. Purified natural products are required for complete spectro scopic identification and full characterization of new compo unds, for biological testing and for the supply of pharmaceuti cals, standards, and starting materials for synthetic work. Obtaining pure products from an extract can be a very long, te dious and expensive undertaking, involving many steps. Sometimes only minute amounts of the desired compounds are at hand and these entities may be labile. Thus it is an advantage to have access to as many different methods as possible in order to aid the isolation process. Although a certain amount of trial and error may be involved, nowadays there is the possibility of devising suitable rapid separation schemes by a judicious choice of the different techniques available.

Following the successful format of the original, this new edition presents applications of the most recent techniques for the detection, isolation, and structural determination of bioactive natural products. It features new case studies and illustrations that demonstrate applications of techniques covered in the book. Complementing as much as replacing the first edition, most of the contributors are new. The text includes updates on chemical extraction, and NMR-based structure determination, and new contributions on liquid chromatography linked with mass and NMR spectroscopy, dereplication approaches, assessment of source material for natural products and novel bioassay development.

Natural products are sought after by the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries, and research continues into their potential for new applications. Extraction of natural products in an economic and environmentally-friendly way is of high importance to all industries involved. This book presents a holistic and in-depth view of the techniques available for extracting natural products, with modern and more environmentally-benign methods, such as ultrasound and supercritical fluids discussed alongside conventional methods. Examples and case studies are presented, along with the decision-making process needed to determine the most appropriate method. Where appropriate, scale-up and process integration is discussed. Relevant to researchers in academia and industry, and students aiming for either career path, Natural Product Extraction presents a handy digest of the current trends and latest developments in the field with concepts of Green Chemistry in mind.