CHM663: Phytochemistry / Faculty of Applied Sciences

This is an introductory course in phytochemistry, the chemistry of plants, one of the most important natural resources in our country. This course is aimed at giving the students some understanding on chemical compounds present in plants and the various methods of plant analyses. The course starts with a survey of the Malaysian medicinal plants. This is followed by topics on basic phytochemical methods, the different classes of compounds/secondary metabolites usually present in plants, such as terpenoids, steroids, alkaloids, flavonoids and quinones as well as biosyntheses of selected secondary metabolites. Discussion on the application of spectroscopic data in the structural determination of selected secondary metabolites is also included. The course concludes with a topic on drug development from phytochemicals.