Health Related Enzyme Inhibiting Natural Products from Medicinal Plants

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Natural product chemistry is an important class of organic chemistry that contributes novel organic compounds to the chemical literature and is considered as one of the successful sources of supplying lead bioactive compounds to the drug discovery. One of the aspects of drug discovery is the identification of small molecules with enzyme inhibiting activities. Enzymes play an important role in all aspects of health in life and their overexpression and hyperactivation is involved in the pathogenesis of various diseases. For instance, anti-acetylcholinesterase (AChE) compounds are potential candidates for curing Alzheimer's Disease (AD). During the past years, we are involved in discovering new enzyme inhibiting natural products from medicinally important plants. This chapter describes the identification of new anti-α- glucosidase, anti-renin, anti-glutathione transferase (GST) and anti-AChE compounds from medicinally important plants. Additionally, structure-activity relationships (SAR) and determination of active pharmacophores of newly discovered bioactive natural products exhibiting aforementioned bioactivities are also discussed.