Preface

The use of herbal medicine stays an important part of healthcare systems in the world. As the topic of plant-derived therapeutics and investigations in natural products gains ground, the necessity of scientifically designed educational materials combining the traditional knowledge on herbs with the current technological and pharmaceutical developments increases.

The book, Textbook of Herbal Medicine and Pharmacy (Part 2), has been designed to offer a comprehensive knowledge of the secondary metabolites, finding the active components, the pharmacological screening, the strategies to formulate the drugs, and the new science of network pharmacology. The text is well structured in such a way that conceptual clarity, scientific accuracy, and practical relevance are made clear.

Chapter one expounds on the classification of the secondary metabolites, such as alkaloids, phenolics, terpenoids, and the rest of the bioactive compounds, in relation to their biological functions, biosynthesis, and medicinal uses. The further chapters are devoted to extraction methods, purification methods, bioassays, pharmacodynamics, quality control, and formulation science.

The peculiarity of the given book is the discussion of herbal technology and network pharmacology in detail. The changing nature of herbal drug research is captured in the combination of computational biology and machine learning with multi-omics data and systems pharmacology. The method emphasizes the transition from single-target treatment modalities to multi-target approaches to therapy.

The book targets pharmacy and pharmacognosy students, life sciences students, and others. It is also expected that it will lead to the advantage of researchers, academicians, and professionals involved in developing herbal drugs and translational research.

We are grateful to people in colleges, students, and publishing professionals, who helped to complete this work. We would like to believe that this book may encourage the readers to consider the scientific richness and therapeutic possibilities of herbal medicines.