Teaching objectives: At the end of this course, students must: - Be able to identify the main classes of natural active ingredients and their isolation and characterization techniques. - Know the modern processes and clean technologies for the extraction and purification of natural active ingredients. - Know how to prepare drugs and plant extracts for pharmaceutical use and ensure their quality. - Be familiar with the regulations and other sources of information relevant to medicinal plants and natural active ingredients. Recommended prior knowledge: Basic notions of chemistry and general biochemistry.