Our country has a very rich plant kingdom. Most of them are not properly studied for their scientific and commercial use. Plant extracts and plant essential oils have good biological activity. Naturally the Indian system of medicine Ayurveda makes use of the plant kingdom very effectively and has stood the test of time. With the modern analytical facilities it is possible to study the plant ingredients in depth. Consequently many active compounds (mainly secondary metabolites such as terpeneoids, alkaloids, flavanoids etc) in plants have been isolated, identified and put to use in varying fields like medicine and agriculture. Plant derived compounds can act as excellent lead to useful and more effective compounds. Aromatic plants which are not yet commercially exploited will be identified and extracted using chromatograghic techniques, and the essential oil isolation using steam distillation. The chemical profiles from the plants were identified using GC-MS (Gas chromatography-Mass spectrometry), GC-MS-O (Gas chromatography-Mass spectrometry-Olfactometry), Spectroscopic methods such as UV, IR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, 2D NMR techniques. The compounds obtained were subjected to biological activity. The compounds were chemically transformed to increase the biological activity. Chemical modifications of these compounds identified and their biological activity have to be investigated and this is very useful to our mankind.

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