What are the benefits and limitations of the extractions of drugs from plants?… by Diva* <
Am willing to award 15 points for the best answer,
How extractions of drugs from plants and it's applications interact with social, economical, political environment and cultural factors.
Best Answer:
I will try my best to give you some information on the subject. economical, sociological, political ramifications would require hundreds of pages and months of study and fact finding.
Many pharmaceuticals are so complex that it is not economically feasible to synthesise it in a laboratory. e.g. the anti-cancer drugs vincristine sulfate and vinblastine sulfate are so complex that plant extraction is the only economical production method. ( form the mediterranean periwinkel plant). Some chemicals, like antibiotics are used long before their chemical structure is discovered, and they are are extracted from bacterial or fungal fermentation). . A good example is penecillin. The exact molecular structure was determined decades after its first use. And laboratory synthesis was effected 50 years after Alexander Fleming's first discovery. It is still cheaper to extract the basic beta lactam molecule and modify it chemically in order to make newer semi sybthetic derivatives. (like ampicillin, cloxacillin, methicillin etc.). There are problems with natural plant exctracts. The source plant can be rare and in danger of going extinct if heavily exploited. A good example is the anticancer drugs taxol and paclitaxel. The source pacific yew tree is an uncommon plant and in danger. A bacterial alternate source has recently been discovered..
Hope that helps.
Doc. Dan.
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