Fungal diseases have been underestimated worldwide but constitute a substantial threat to several plant and animal species as well as to public health. The increase in the global population has entailed an increase in the demand for agriculture in recent decades. Accordingly, there has been worldwide pressure to find means to improve the quality and productivity of agricultural crops. Antifungal agents have been widely used as an alternative for managing fungal diseases affecting several crops. However, the unregulated use of antifungals can jeopardize public health. Application of fungicides in agriculture should be under strict regulation to ensure the toxicological safety of commercialized foods. This review discusses the use of antifungals in agriculture worldwide, the need to develop new antifungals, and improvement of regulations regarding antifungal use.

Plants have been used for therapeutic purposes against various human ailments for several centuries. Plant-derived natural compounds have been implemented in clinics against microbial diseases. Unfortunately, the emergence of antimicrobial resistance has significantly reduced the efficacy of existing standard antimicrobials. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared antimicrobial resistance as one of the top 10 global public health threats facing humanity. Therefore, it is the need of the hour to discover new antimicrobial agents against drug-resistant pathogens. In the present article, we have discussed the importance of plant metabolites in the context of their medicinal applications and elaborated on their mechanism of antimicrobial action against human pathogens. The WHO has categorized some drug-resistant bacteria and fungi as critical and high priority based on the need to develope new drugs, and we have considered the plant metabolites that target these bacteria and fungi. We have also emphasized the role of phytochemicals that target deadly viruses such as COVID-19, Ebola, and dengue. Additionally, we have also elaborated on the synergetic effect of plant-derived compounds with standard antimicrobials against clinically important microbes. Overall, this article provides an overview of the importance of considering phytogenous compounds in the development of antimicrobial compounds as therapeutic agents against drug-resistant microbes.

In recent years, g-C₃N₄ photocatalyst-mediated organic reactions have represented an important mode of chemical transformations and are expected to become a crucial field at the forefront of organic chemistry. Polymeric g-C₃N₄ as a heterogeneous catalyst has attracted great attention compared to other metal-based catalysts in photocatalytic applications because of its cost-effectiveness, good chemical stability, no heavy metal pollution, and eco-friendliness. In recent years, aerobic oxidation under visible-light has been identified as an attractive and fast-developing field in synthetic chemistry due to the simple operating procedure, easy work up and high efficiency. This review highlights carbon nitride-catalyzed visible-light-promoted strategies for the oxidation of alcohols, synthesis of esters, phenols, and sulfoxides, reduction of nitro compounds, the formation of carbonyl compounds, and several coupling reactions. However, g-C₃N₄ demands high temperature and O₂ pressure in addition to visible-light in the system to deliver the desired organic transformations. An alternative strategy may be to anchor organic dyes on the surface of heterogeneous catalysts for mild reaction conditions. The more challenging reaction is the reduction, since investigations related to the selective photoreduction of organic substrates are limited in comparison with photocatalytic selective oxidation; specifically, g-C₃N₄ is restricted to nitro compounds predominantly. Attempts can be made to enhance the selectivity in reduction by modifying surfaces, changing external conditions, forming composites, etc.