Analysis of Natural Products and Pharmaceuticals

We are pleased to introduce a new Section of Separations under the topic “Analysis of Natural Products and Pharmaceuticals”

In general terms, “Natural Products” can be defined as all compounds that are synthesized/produced by living organisms (plants, animals, etc.). The importance of Natural Products has been recognized for thousands of years and, still today, a considerable fraction of new drugs is based on the discovery of natural biogenic molecules.

In the Section “Analysis of Natural Products and Pharmaceuticals”, we are welcoming original research and review articles on the development and application of analytical methods in both natural product and pharmaceuticals science.

Research on the analysis of Natural Products should ideally increase the current knowledge on the extraction, isolation, identification, structure elucidation and quantification of bioactive compounds. All aspects of instrumental analysis that can be used as a tool to achieve these tasks are welcome. Reports on Quality Control and Standardization of Natural Products will also be considered on the basis of their significance in the field.

Analysis of Pharmaceuticals, on the other hand, is an extremely broad topic ranging from quality control or raw materials to impurity profiling of active ingredients and to bioanalytical applications. Original work on all aspects of related research is welcome. Impurity profiling and especially identification/quantification of genotoxic impurities are of particular interest, while simple assays using HPLC should provide clear advantages from an analytical point of view in order to be processed further. Research work from industries reporting the results from real-world analytical problems is also welcome. All pharmaceutical-related analytical methods should be fully validated.

Bioanalytical methods including pharmacokinetic, bioequivalence, protein and DNA binding studies are welcome on the basis of analytical novelty, including sample preparation. Real-world applications (endogenous analytes or sampling from patients) are highly recommended versus demonstration through spiking of blank biological matrices.

In all cases, novelty will be the major suitability criterion of submitted articles. Authors must, therefore, always address the question of how their proposed methodology compares with previously reported methods.