The Malaysian flora, a rich source of lead compounds
Khalijah Awang
Department of Chemistry University Malaya, Malaysia
Abstract:
Malaysia is blessed with one of the most diverse and oldest flora in the world. Its flora is one of the mega diversities. Thus, it is a rich source of lead compoundsN. In addition, its diverse community-Malay, Chinese, and Indian, inherits an extremely rich traditional medicinal knowledge, jamu, ubat periuk, sensei, ayurvedic etc. Both qualities made Malaysia a great potential producer of lead compounds to be developed as pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals. Our group has undertaken a systematic chemical and biological activity survey of the plants from the Malaysian flora and we have also undertake studies of medicinal herbs known to be used in traditional medicinal practice. This presentation shall discuss briefly on the collection process and the various biological active chemical entities discovered including of alkaloids, limonoids, triterpenes and prenylated coumarins1-2., sesquiterpene, phenyl propanoids, phenolics etc.
Keywords: Lead compounds, alkaloids, limonoids, triterpenes and prenylated coumarins1-2., sesquiterpene, phenyl propanoids, phenolics.
