Natural Products and Their Derivatives as Potential Drugs: A Themed Issue in Honour of Prof. Gerald Blunden

Dear Colleague,

Gerald Blunden, an Emeritus Professor of Pharmacognosy at the University of Portsmouth UK, has been an internationally renowned pioneer and authority in the fields of phytochemistry and phytomedicines with more than five decades of scientific research experience. Professor Blunden received his Bachelor and Master degrees in Pharmacy from the University of Nottingham and Ph.D. from the University of Portsmouth.

His first research publication was in 1963, and since then, he has published more than 400 scientific papers, both refereed and non-refereed, as well as being the author of various book chapters, and a joint editor of the book Seaweed Resources in Europe: Uses and Potential, published by John Wiley. Gerald supervised many research and post-doctoral students who came from all over the world, including Venezuela, Hungary, Italy, Czech Republic, Thailand, Myanmar, Nepal and China.

Professor Blunden has been awarded many distinctions, including Honorary Membership of the Hungarian Pharmaceutical Society, Honorary Professor of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, the Faculty Gold Medal by the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Szeged, Hungary, and the 650th Anniversary Medal of Charles’ University, Prague, Czech Republic.

Professor Blunden has been a member of or has chaired numerous national and international committees, including the American Society of Pharmacognosy, the Pharmacognosy Committee of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, the British Phycological Society Council, the Manpower Committee of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, the Council for National Academic Awards Register (with particular reference to Pharmacy), Vice Chairman of the UK Heads of Schools of Pharmacy and the Advisory Committee to the British Pharmacopoeia Commission.

Moreover, Professor Blunden has been an editorial member or referee for over 50 scientific journals and 20 research grants around the world. In particular, the international journal Natural Product Communications has especially set up a “Gerald Blunden Award” for the best research papers and review articles published in the journal in order to honour his “innumerable contributions”. Professor Blunden was a founding editor and is currently the Honorary Editor for the journal.

It is also worth mentioning that he is a great friend of both Guest Editors.

Natural products are characterised by a wide spectrum of biological activities; some of them are already used in the therapy of different diseases and some of them are in clinical studies; thus, the potential of secondary metabolites as candidates for new drugs is indispensable. This Special Issue is focused on both original research and review articles that cover the analysis, isolation and structural elucidation of all classes of natural products. Evaluation of biological activities of novel compounds, their structure–activity relationship, preparation of semisynthetic derivatives of plant secondary metabolites and molecular mechanisms of action are welcomed.

Prof. Dr. David E. Thurston
Prof. Dr. Lucie Cahlíková
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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.