Bacterial cultivation has been a mainstay of natural products discovery for the past 80 years. However, the majority of bacteria are recalcitrant to culture, providing an untapped source for new natural products. Metagenomic analysis provides an alternative method to directly access the uncultivated genome for natural products research and for the discovery of novel, bioactive substances. Appli...

This article describes some of the most commercially important fungi, and focuses on food products. This general review article discusses all different aspects of fungal natural products, from pharmaceuticals to food

Enantioselective nucleophilic acylation catalysis provides a simple method of determining absolute configuration for unsaturated alcohols. Extension of this technique to natural products and synthetic compounds, as well as current limitations of this approach, are also described.

There are still some synthetic chemists who hesitate to use metal-mediated or -catalysed reactions. The Pauson-Khand reaction (PKR) is a powerful transformation that has now been sufficiently well developed to be routinely considered when planning a synthesis, especially of polycyclic complex molecules. This tutorial review aims to encourage the use of this process explaining the best ways of p...

A diversity-oriented solution and solid-phase synthesis of tetrahydroquinoline-based tricyclic derivatives has been achieved from enantiomerically pure, natural product-like bicyclic scaffold. The solution synthesis of enantiopure bicyclic scaffold was developed by asymmetric hetero Michael reaction. Our approach for the synthesis of polycyclic derivatives utilized regio- and stereoselective he...

Natural products have evolved, at least in part, to bind to biological macromolecules, particularly proteins. As a result, natural products are able to interact with many specific targets within the cell. Indeed for many years this has been central in the drug development process. Today, however, natural products are finding increasing use as probes to interrogate biological systems as part of ...

Sesterterpenoids account for many bioactive natural products, often with unusual and complex structural features, which makes them attractive targets for synthetic chemists. This review surveys efforts undertaken toward the synthesis of sesterterpenoids, focusing on completed total syntheses and covering ca. 50 natural products in total.