Natural products: Designing Russian medications.

The study of natural products (low-molecular bioregulators) is an important research area that lies on the boundary of biology and chemistry. It involves searching, isolating, and identifying the structure and studying the biological functions of such substances, as well as investigating their chemical conversions, especially those that lead to highly active products. These research efforts play an important part in deepening biological and chemical knowledge and build the scientific groundwork for designing new drugs and biologically active food additives. Some results of the study of natural compounds were discussed in a paper read at a session of the RAS Presidium and are published below. © Pleiades Publishing, Ltd. 2008.