Phytochemistry is in the strict sense of the word the study of phytochemicals. These are chemicals derived from plants. In a narrower sense the terms are often used to describe the large number of secondary metabolic compounds found in plants . Many of these are known to provide protection against insect attacks and plant diseases. They also exhibit a number of protective functions for human consumers.
Techniques commonly used in the field of phytochemistry are extraction , isolation and structural elucidation (MS,1D and 2D NMR) of natural products, as well as various chromato graphy techniques (MPLC, HPLC, LC-MS).
