Research Progress and Application of Natural Compounds—2nd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

Natural compounds play a crucial role in modern integrative medicine. A natural compound or natural product is a chemical compound or substance produced by a living organism and is thus found in nature. A fundamental property of this compound is that it can also be prepared via chemical synthesis.

Within medicinal chemistry, the field is often further restricted to secondary metabolites. Secondary metabolites are not crucial for survival but offer the organisms that produce them an evolutionary advantage. Some secondary metabolites are cytotoxic and have been selected and optimized via evolution as "chemical warfare" agents against prey, predators, and competing organisms.

Natural sources may lead to fundamental research on bioactive components that could be commercially developed as lead-hit compounds in drug discovery. However, although natural products have inspired numerous drugs, drug design using natural sources is a laborious, time- and money-consuming process that has received reduced attention from pharmaceutical companies in the 21st century.

Furthermore, natural product molecules can be conjugated or coated with nanostructures and other organic molecules to enhance their bioactivity or ADME properties. This branch of bionano engineering is a rapidly evolving field. The nanomaterials of bioactive agents offer specific advantages such as a high surface area to volume ratio and a nanoscale size, showing alternations in physical and chemical properties. Natural compounds are a source of bioactive molecules. However, the development of biological applications based on these compounds is hindered by intrinsic problems in their solubility, volatility, degradation, and bioavailability. As drug administration systems, nanocarriers have the potential to avoid these limitations by providing controlled and directed delivery. In addition, natural small-molecule compounds with anticancer activity, self-assembly, and co-assembly functions could be utilized as novel drug delivery systems in the biomedical field. Drug delivery systems aim to achieve the optimal delivery of drugs to their target sites.

This Special Issue aims to compile research on bioactive natural compounds such as flavonoids and secondary metabolites like phenazine, polyketides, ribosomal peptides, non-ribosomal peptides, glucosides, as well as many others with medical applications. In addition, papers addressing the use of novel nanostructures in conjunction with natural compounds are welcome.

Dr. Claudiu N. Lungu
Prof. Dr. Ionel Mangalagiu
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.

• natural products
• primary and secondary metabolites
• bioactive compounds
• bioactive peptides
• anticancer natural products
• flavonoids
• drug design

• Research Progress and Applications of Natural Products in Molecules (9 articles)