PHG 222 Pharmacognosy-I

The goal of this course is to provide primary knowledge of natural product drugs to the pharmacy student in professional program of study and give some practical guidance in the process of screening of medicinal plants. In this course, the student will study: History and importance of natural products, Botanical characters of medicinal plants and study the different cell contents; Natural health products as herbal medicines, homeopathy, complementary and alternative medicine and related subjects; The students will also study selected examples to illustrate contemporary usage of natural products; Production of natural product derived drugs including their collection, preparation, storage conditions and their preparation for use either in the crude form or as extracts. The course will introduce the students to the different biogenetic pathways of secondary metabolites formation and their classification. The study will include the active constituents of drugs containing: Carbohydrates, Tannins, Volatile oils, lipids and unorganized drugs. The course will also covers chromatographic principles and methodologies specially column and planer chromatography as well as their applications in evaluation of natural products.