Innovative Techniques for Natural Product Isolation: Bridging Tradition and Modernity

Abstract

Naturally occurring substances from prebiotic, microbial, plant and animal sources have always piqued human curiosity. Plant extracts of various parts have been used extensively in traditional medicines, perfumes, food flavorings, and preservatives. They are also more frequently used in both common and chronic illnesses. Natural products are essential sources for medication production. The development of efficient and selective techniques for the extraction and isolation of those bioactive natural compounds is crucial nowadays. The thorough assessment of the many techniques utilized in the extraction and separation of natural products was the main emphasis of this paper. The traditional and contemporary methods used in natural products research are also presented in this paper. The low efficiency of conventional isolation processes leads to increased processing time, higher energy consumption, and more solvent usage, which can make the process less sustainable. The use of organic solvents in conventional extraction can pose environmental and health risks, as many solvents are toxic and harmful and however have hindered the application of natural products isolation and synthesis. Due to tremendous increase in application of different extraction methods for natural product isolation/drug synthesis, more efficient techniques have been developed to extract and separate natural products.