Isolation and Structure Elucidation of Novel Natural Products from Turkish Lichens

Lichens are the symbiotic association of fungi and a photosynthetic partner, either a green algae of a cynobacterium or both. The lichens’ names refer to their fungal components. About 18,000 lichen species are known. They provide a great variety of metabolic products, some of which appear to occur naturally only in lichens, while others are also present in higher plants and fungi. Their secondary products play a dominant role in the systematics of lichen forming fungi. The isolation and identification of these products are increasing through the use of refined chromatographic and analytic methods. Lichens have long been used in alcohol production and as nourishment in cold countries. They are also used commercially in the perfume, dye and drug industries3−7. In addition to their usage as folk medicine for many years, about 60 lichen species are found in different types of antimicrobial, anticancer, antiallergen, immunogical and expectoral preparations8−11. ∗Corresponding author