Living organisms produce an amazing range of chemicals. Many drugs have been derived from natural products, or at least could be; aspirin is an example of this. Some herbal medicines obviously are effective, even if the active ingredient is not known. The author of this book has brought together around 1,500 naturally occurring chemicals where the pharmaceutical properties have been examined. For each chemical or group of very similar chemicals he gives the name of the chemical and its formula, structure and compound class. The source of the chemical is given, usually with the authors of the scientific name and the family.
Brahmachari is a plant scientist and the plant data is good, but for sponges the information is not always complete. I followed Phokella flabeallata on the internet and found, via WoRMS (World Register of Marine Species), that this creature has had a very complex taxonomic history. It is now Clathria (Isociella) macropora in the family Axinellidea. Then comes the most interesting part of the record; the pharmaceutical potential. In this the literature on action of the chemical against disease organisms or cancer cell lines is briefly outlined. These descriptions range from the reports of single experiments to over a page for chemicals that have shown high potential of use. An example is calycosin, which is active against a number of protozoan parasites. Another is embelin, which shows activity both as an anti‐inflammatory and as an antibacterial. The longest entry is that for βLapachone, an active anti‐tumour agent, which has three and half pages on its properties. All the references are quoted in the form of authors and citation. (Being a librarian I would have liked the titles as well).
Tables at the end of the second volume list the chemicals by structural group; alkaloids, antibiotics and so on to miscellaneous – seven classes in all. Both volumes have an introduction by the author in which he discusses the world trade in pharmaceuticals and herb‐based medicine and the use of the compounds in the development of potential new products. The chemical described here and, as the author draws to our attention, the many that are yet to be discovered, mean that there is plenty of opportunity of expanding the range of pharmaceutical products.
I did a little web surfing, and got some of the information that is in the entries of this book but it was scattered; the taxonomy in some resources, the cited papers scattered and structural formula difficult to find.
This book is clearly for specialists, the natural product chemist and the pharmaceutical chemist. The author is from India and brings to the book knowledge of traditional medicine systems. The book is published in Germany, and that is appropriate, as a century ago German chemists were producing encyclopaedias of chemicals of potential industrial use. I do not know whether Goutam Brahmachri intends a revised edition in the future but I am sure there will be an ongoing demand for a book like this.
