Novel Natural and Derivative Products: Synthesis and Pharmacological Potential

Dear Colleagues,

Nature has invented a huge number of compounds that have biologically active properties, and scientists have created many ways to improve upon them. This Issue is devoted to the identification of derivatives of natural substances using modern technologies, as well as their modification by including functional groups in their structures in order to achieve specific physicochemical properties and biological activity.

Neurological disorders are one of the main sources of premature mortality, ranking second after cardiovascular diseases, and have become the absolute leaders in terms of the percentage of temporary or permanent disability among survivors. Given that the prevalence of most neurological disorders increases with age, the burden is expected to increase in countries with aging populations, despite significant progress that has been made in stroke prevention. During the 2020 pandemic, the defeat of the central nervous system also began to play an important role in the clinical picture and severity of COVID-19 infection. Degenerative changes in the cerebral cortex of convalescents have been described to persist for more than 5 months and have serious cognitive consequences, as well as concomitant depressive states against the background of inflammatory processes.

The epidemiology of infection predicts an increased demand for therapeutic approaches to treat both elderly patients and the younger working population.

Particular attention in this Issue will be paid to bioactive compounds for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases and the development of new antiviral and anti-inflammatory drugs. Compounds obtained from natural sources and synthesized under laboratory conditions will be considered in the context of in silico technologies application along with in vitro and in vivo experiments. The results should include modern methods of physicochemical analysis, such as IR, UV, multinuclear NMR, HPLC, GC-MS, computer approaches of studying the structure–biological activity relationship, as well as biological methods confirming their activity in in vitro and in vivo models.

Thus, the relevance of this Special Issue dedicated to the identification, synthesis, prediction, and verification of the pharmacological activity of natural and semi-synthetic compounds is beyond doubt. In this regard, I would be glad if you agreed to submit an original research paper, short message, or overview to this Issue.

Prof. Dr. Yuri Baukov
Guest Editor

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