Phytochemical basis of herbal medicines

To the scientist or pharmacist a plant s constituents may be regarded as an unholy mixture of mainly unwanted chemicals, to be refined with the objective of identifying and isolating an active principle . Herbalists on the other hand aim at a holistic approach— one that values the sum or totality of a plant s constituents—even those considered by the pharmacist to be worthless. In order to study the activity of a given herb, it is often necessary to purify it or isolate a specific compound—an example of the reductionist approach that characterises the biomedical model. 

It does not reqnire a science degree to gain an understanding of the fnndamental chemical structures found in medicinal herbs, but some knowledge of organic chemistry is desirable. Hence reference to any good introductory text on organic chemistry or biochemistry will help those who haven t done an elementary course at tertiary level. 

In this chapter we review some of the basic chemical principles and terminology that are used throughout the book, along with an introduction to the biosynthetic processes throngh which plants manufacture their chemicals. 

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