Bioactive Compounds: From Nature to Pharmaceutical Applications

Dear Colleagues,

Most treatment groups are facing challenges related to safe and effective drugs. Recent reports on drug resistance and drug sensitivity have further worsened the situation. To address these challenges, the discovery of new effective agents is indispensable. In this connection, natural therapeutic chemical compounds could be the best option. Nature offers an incredibly diverse treasure trove of chemical compounds/secondary metabolites with therapeutic potential. Chemical templates in the form of secondary metabolites such as flavonoids, alkaloids, glycosides, saponins, terpenoids, steroids, essential oils, fixed oils, etc. have shown outstanding pharmacological effects in various in vitro and in vivo paradigms. Several of these are already being investigated for detailed mechanistic studies apart from their safety profile. However, those chemical entities that have not been explored yet for their pharmacological effects need to be studied urgently. On the other hand, those compounds whose prominent effects have been elicited and their safe dosage levels confirmed must be tested for clinical effects in controlled clinical trials. 

This Special Issue will describe the latest developments in nature-derived therapeutic agents in terms of pharmacological effects and overall natural drug discovery events. Submissions may be research articles based on in vitro/in vivo effects, preclinical/clinical trials, or comprehensive reviews.

Prof. Dr. Haroon Khan
Prof. Dr. Mohammad Amjad Kamal
Dr. Syed Shams ul Hassan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Molecules is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.