Publisher's Synopsis
The second edition of "Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry - Volume II" is marked with addition of two new chapters, namely, Value of Natural Products and Chemotaxonomy, following the steadfast development in these areas. The food pharmaceuticals and dietary supplement industries have started delivering phytochemicals or extracts in the form of functional foods. A greater coverage has thus been given to this rapidly emerging area of Nutraceuticals. Some of the important but uncommon topics such as Natural sweeteners, Natural colours and dyes, and Pesticides of natural origin have been reviewed in detail as they have received emphasis in the last few decades. The chapter of 'Plant Allergens have been renamed as 'Plant Allergens and Toxins' where most of the infamous allergens and toxic plant constituents have been discussed. Marine resources of the therapeutically active constituents have been discussed in profile in the chapter on 'Marine Drugs'. Keeping in mind the use of herbal crude drugs, their extracts and remedies, a chapter, Traditional Drugs of India, has been so designed that about sixty important traditional drugs has been covered for their pharmacognosy and phytochemistry. Unlike many other books, isolation techniques of over fifty important phytopharmaceuticals have been explained under the heading, Isolation of phytopharmaceuticals, as isolation and characterisation of therapeutically active ingredients are a vital part though many of these processes are of proprietary nature. The historical perspectives, basic techniques and applications of plant tissue culture have been discussed in the chapter on Plant Cell and Tissue Culture.
