Phytochemical Wisdom: Traditional Medicinal Plants for Anti-Infective Drug Discovery
A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Natural Products Chemistry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 4
Special Issue Editor
Interests: infectious disease; malaria; virus; cancer; medicinal chemistry; natural compounds
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The global health community is facing an escalating crisis due to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), emerging infectious diseases, and the diminishing effectiveness of conventional anti-infective agents. In this context, traditional medicinal plants offer a largely untapped reservoir of structurally diverse phytochemicals with promising antimicrobial, antiviral, antifungal, and antiparasitic properties. This Special Issue brings together multidisciplinary research that aims to bridge traditional pharmacological knowledge with modern scientific and chemical innovation to accelerate the discovery of next-generation anti-infective therapeutics.
A central theme of this Special Issue is the integration of medicinal chemistry into the study of traditional herbs. Contributions explore the isolation and structural characterization of active constituents from well-documented medicinal herbs. Medicinal chemistry strategies, including structure–activity relationship (SAR) studies, lead optimization, semisynthetic modification, and prodrug design, are highlighted as key tools for enhancing bioactivity, selectivity, metabolic stability, and overall drug-likeness.
Additionally, studies address the importance of developing phytochemical leads into clinically relevant anti-infective agents. The Special Issue encourages a rational, evidence-based framework for re-evaluating traditional remedies through the lens of modern drug discovery paradigms.
Dr. Paolo Coghi
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- traditional medicinal plants
- anti-infective agents
- antimicrobial resistance (AMR)
- medicinal chemistry
- phytochemicals
- natural product drug discovery
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