Extraction, Isolation and Characterization of Bioactive Natural Compounds

Natural products have traditionally played a pivotal role in drug discovery and development, providing an immensely large library of therapeutically potent bioactive compounds. This chapter lays down complete information on the procedures involved in the extraction of bioactive natural compounds of a variety of biological substances, their subsequent purification and analysis processes. Professional extraction techniques, maceration, Soxhlet extraction as well as ultrasonication, and supercritical fluid extraction, are chosen depending on the type of chemical and thermal stability of the targeted molecules. The chapter describes the purification methods of bioactive constituents following the extraction using methods such as high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), column chromatography and thin-layer chromatography (TLC). Moreover, the chapter provides an explanation on how to find chemical structures by using Nuclear magnetic resonance, mass spectrometry, and HPLC-coupled detectors that are superior spectroscopic techniques. It is a combination of these analytical processes that results in valid identification and description of natural substances that improve their analysis in therapy evaluation as future pharmacological agents.