Drug Discovery: Natural Products and Compounds
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Pharmacology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 October 2025 | Viewed by 144
Special Issue Editors
Interests: organic chemistry; analytical chemistry; antivirals; nutraceuticals; food chemistry
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: nutraceuticals; bioactive compounds; antioxidant activity; mass spectrometry; chromatography
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue aims to highlight recent advances in drug discovery from natural products and bioactive compounds. Given their chemical diversity and biological activity, natural products from medicinal plants, marine organisms, and microorganisms continue to offer valuable scaffolds for the development of novel therapeutics against cancer, infections, inflammation, and metabolic diseases.
This Special Issue aims to gather high-quality research and review articles on the identification, structural characterization, biological evaluation, and molecular mechanisms of natural compounds. We particularly encourage studies involving advanced analytical techniques, in silico modeling, biosynthesis, synthetic modification, and innovative delivery systems. Topics such as metabolomics, dereplication, structure–activity relationship (SAR) studies, cheminformatics, sustainable sourcing, and biotechnological production are also of great interest. Interdisciplinary approaches integrating pharmacokinetics, toxicology, target identification, and system biology to elucidate mechanisms of action are especially valued. By providing a multidisciplinary dialog, this Special Issue aims to advance the field of natural product-based drug discovery and support the translation of natural compounds into effective therapeutic agents.
This Special Issue is supervised by Prof. Dr. Vincenzo Summa and Prof. Dr. Maria Maisto, with the assistance of our Topical Advisory Panel Member Dr. Vincenzo Piccolo (University of Naples Federico II, https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijms/topical_advisory_panel?search=Vincenzo+Piccolo).
Prof. Dr. Vincenzo Summa
Dr. Maria Maisto
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- natural products
- drug discovery
- bioactive compounds
- phytochemicals
- marine natural compounds
- microorganisms
- structure–activity relationships (SARs)
- pharmacological activity
- cheminformatics
- metabolomics
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