products from microorganisms, lower eukaryotes, animals, higher plants and marine organisms are now well documented. Natural products are ubiquitous in our everyday lives. They are active constituents of many medicines, vitamins, food additives, flavours and fragrances, agrochemicals and pesticides used for plant protection. Most of the natural products are optically active. Numerous universities offer a M.Sc. course on natural products. However, there is no comprehensive book for students on various topics covered in these syllabi. This text aims to provide an easy to read overview of the subject. Each chapter includes general introduction, nomenclature occurrence, isolation, detection, structure elucidation both by degradation & spectroscopic techniques, biosynthesis, synthesis, biological activity and commercial applications, if any, of the compounds mentioned.

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