Natural Products Blog

The latest issue of Natural Product Reports is now online, and features a review from Ronald J. Quinn et al. on the cover.  Their article examines Protein Fold Topology correlations between natural products and biosynthetic enzymes and therapeutic targets and suggests that this could explain why nature produces such a large proportion of existing drugs.

Also in the issue we have an article from Alvaro M. Vijoen on natural products in anti-obesity therapy, a review from Muhammad Saleem and Karsten Krohn on difficulties in developing new naturally derived antibiotics, and a regular review article from Braulio M. Fraga on natural sesquiterpenoids.

View the issue

The latest issue of NPR is now available to view online here.

The front cover illustrates a review from Massimo E. Maffei describing recent developments in the study of biosynthesis and medicinal applications of plant VOCs.

In this issue you will also find our regular Hot off the Press feature from Robert Hill and Andrew Sutherland covering current developments in bioorganic chemistry and novel natural products, such as virgatolide A from Pestalotiopsis virgatula and a Highlight article from Hans-Georg Sahl and Karin Thevissen on recent reports of specific defensin targets.

M. Soledade C. Pedras focuses on the phytoalexins produced by cruciferous plants and Annabel C. Murphy discusses the use of metabolic engineering for improving the sustainability of the chemical industry. Finally natural products containing a diazo group are reviewed by Christopher J. Moody while Steven V. Ley discusses those containing the piperazic acid motif.

Welcome to NPR Issue 6.

In this issue you will find some of our regular reviews on natural products:

– Robert Hill‘s review on triterpenoids updates their previous review published last year.

– Zhon Jin publishes his two regular reviews:

• Amaryllidaceae and sceletium alkaloids. You can also see the previous one here.
• Muscarine, imidazole and thiazole alkaloids. Download the previous one here.

Apart from those reviews, you can also find Robert Hill and Andrew Sutherland‘s hot of the press. This month, they look at  various aspects of current developments in bioorganic chemistry and novel natural products, such as salvileucalin C from Salvia leucantha.

Dean Tantillo talks about theoretical studies on terpene formation and Tohru Dairi helps us understand how nature solves the problem in the biosynthesis of small molecules.

Finally, Jesus Jimemez Barbero uses NMR methods to study the interaction between natural products and their receptors.

I hope you enjoy reading this issue.

The 5th issue of NPR 2011 is now published on-line and it comes with 7 very interesting reviews and a beautiful cover!

Stephane Quideau and his team synthesise ellagitannin natural products. Bernd Nidetzky and colleagues tell us about the biosynthesis and applications of Glycosides as compatible solutes. Scott A. Snyder and co-workers look at different synthetic approaches to oligomeric natural products. Antonio Salatino‘s team talk about propolis, a honeybee product, composed mainly of wax and resins.
Vincent Ferrieres and his team review recent discoveries performed in the field of glycans and related glycoconjugates that have demonstrated immunomodulatory activities. Huimin Gao and coworkers describe bufadienolides and their antitumor activity and last but not least, Andrei V. Nikolaev and his team look at synthetic glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchors.

Take a look at it and enjoy it!

Welcome to our latest NPR Issue number 4!

This issue starts with a Hot off the Press article where Robert Hill  cherry-picks 27 recent papers that cover different aspects of current developments in bioorganic chemistry and novel natural products such as dibelamcandal A from Belamcanda chinensis.

We then go to a review on carotenoids and their cleavage products where Michael Walter and Dieter Strack cover structural, molecular genetic and functional aspects of carotenoids and apocarotenoids alike.

Coran M. H. Watanabe and his colleagues tell us about the discovery and biological activity of the azinomycins, their mode of action, related synthetic analogs and biosynthesis, and finish with a discussion on the less studied metabolite, ficellomycin.

A very comprehensive review on the latest withanolide steroids reported until 2010 follows. Feng Qiu and co-workers discuss their diverse biological and pharmacological activities.

For those NPR readers who are more into pharmacology and medicinal chemistry, Grzegorz Bulaj‘s team talk about the advances toward developing systemically active and CNS-penetrant neuropeptide analogs. The provide an overview of structural and pharmacological properties and review the potential application of these natural products as drug leads for pain, epilepsy and other neurological diseases.

Gaelle Chouraqui and his research group focus on different methods to create simultaneously the spirolactone and the quaternary spiro stereocentre and their application to the synthesis of natural products.

Then a survey on the chemical, biological, and mycological literature dealing with the isolation, structural elucidation, biological activities, and synthesis of nitrogen-containing compounds by Ji-Kai Liu and colleagues.

Another one for our medchem readers. This one deals with natural products and Chagas’ disease. Take a look at Celso Vataru Nakamura‘s review.

And to finish off, Andrea Vasas and Judit Hohmann update us on naturally occurring xanthanes and xanthanolides.

That is all for Issue 4! We hope you enjoy it and find it interesting.

After our successful themed issue on Marine Natural Products, NPR Issue 3 comes along!

This new issue brings you 8 fantastic articles in a wide variety of different topics. 

If you are interested in β-glucans, we have the most up-to-date highlight for you.
If your topic is ergot alkaloids, here you will find a summary of the last ten years of this family of natural products. In case you miss some marine natural products literature we can offer you this review on marine derived 2-aminoimidazoles with oxidised benzyl groups.  You can also find out more about transhinones as potential therapeutic agents or the clinical significance of pentacyclic triterpenes. Finally, two ‘natural’ reviews, one on disesquiterpenoids and one on glycoconjugates with antitumor activity.

Ups! I almost forgot! We are giving you this very interesting review on ginseng FREE to access! Take a look at it.

Enjoy NPR Issue 3.

We are delighted to announce that Professor Christian Hertweck from the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research in Jena, Germany, is the winner of the 2011 NPR Lecture Award. Professor Hertweck was selected for his contribution to the field of biosynthesis.

“I am honoured that I have been nominated and selected for the NPR lecture award and would like to use this opportunity to thank my colleagues and collaborators for great teamwork and support”, said Professor Hertweck on winning the award. ”Without them, I guess I would not have much to say during the lecture…   

Also, reading NPR articles and reviews has always been an excellent way to keep up with the latest developments in natural product research – a constant source for inspiration. Thank you very much!”

The lecture will be delivered at the 52^nd annual meeting of the American Society of Pharmacognosy, to be held in San Diego, US between July 30^th and August 3^rd this year. Also speaking at the meeting will be NPR Board members Guy Carter, Sarah O’Connor and Joern Piel, and 2010 NPR Lecture Award winner Christopher Walsh. For general information about the meeting please visit the conference website at http://www.asp2011.com.

The NPR Lecture Award is awarded to a researcher who has made a significant contribution to the field of natural products and who has also had some involvement with the journal. Professor Hertweck has authored a number of articles for NPR and you can view his most recent articles below:

The chemistry and biology of cytochalasans
Kirstin Scherlach, Daniela Boettger, Nicole Remme and Christian Hertweck
Nat. Prod. Rep., 2010, 27, 869-886 

Type II polyketide synthases: gaining a deeper insight into enzymatic teamwork
Christian Hertweck, Andriy Luzhetskyy, Yuri Rebets and Andreas Bechthold
Nat. Prod. Rep., 2007, 24, 162-190 

December saw the presentation of the 2010 NPR lecture award at the Pacifichem conference in Hawaii. Professor Chris Walsh, from Harvard Medical School in the US delivered his award lecture, entitled “Posttranslational approach to natural product biosynthesis” during the Natural Products Biosynthesis symposium at the meeting.

Professor Chris Walsh receives his award from NPR Chair Professor Brad Moore.

Professor Walsh was selected for the award in recognition of his work on natural product biosynthesis, in particular his work on investigating the structure and function of enzymes. He has written a number of articles for NPR, some of which you can view below:

Structural insights into nonribosomal peptide enzymatic assembly lines
Alexander Koglin, Christopher T. Walsh, Nat. Prod. Rep., 2009, (8),987-1000
DOI: 10.1039/b904543k

Total biosynthesis: in vitro reconstitution of polyketide and nonribosomal peptide pathways
Elizabeth S. Sattely, Michael A. Fischbach, Christopher T. Walsh, Nat. Prod. Rep., 2008, (4),757-793
DOI: 10.1039/b801747f

Biological formation of pyrroles: Nature’s logic and enzymatic machinery
Christopher T. Walsh, Sylvie Garneau-Tsodikova, Annaleise R. Howard-Jones, Nat. Prod. Rep., 2006, (4),517-531
DOI: 10.1039/b605245m

NPR sponsors a lecture each year at an international meeting. The recipient will have made a significant research contribution to natural products chemistry in its broadest sense, and will have published in or have had some affiliation to the journal. The award is open to anyone fitting these criteria.

The 2011 award winner will be announced in the next few weeks.

Our first Issue of 2011 is already here.

We are very excited about it and looking forward to making 2011 another successful year for NPR. Thank you to all our authors, readers and referees for a fantastic 2010. A big thanks goes also to the NPR Editorial Board for their support and enthusiasm.

In this first Issue you will find a brief Editorial by the new NPR Chair, Bradley Moore and the NPR Editor Richard Kelly.

This is followed by a very interesting and different viewpoint by Johannes Erkens on why chemists should be aware of the essentials of plant naming (free to access from tomorrow, 21st December, until the end of January).
Christopher Vanderwal tells us about chlorosulfolipids in the first highlight of 2011 and then we move to 6 very informative reviews.

Robert Cichewicz and Phillip Williams open this first NPR issue with two reviews on different medicinal chemistry topics. Cichewicz’s review explores the therapeutic lead potential of secondary metabolites for the treatment of protein-misfolding-related neurodegenerative diseases whereas Williams’ review looks at Alzheimer’s drug leads.

Ricardo Riguera talks about the use of NMR methods in complex mixtures and Blaine Pfeifer writes about heterologous biosynthesis as a route to access the beneficial properties of natural products.

István Molnár also looks at biosynthesis of NP; however, he focuses on the biosynthesis and biochemistry of cyclooligomer nonribosomal peptides fungal cyclooligomer depsipeptides.

This first Issue finishes with Ronald Parry‘s review on naturally occurring nitro compounds and the biosynthesis of the nitro group.

We hope you enjoy reading our first issue of 2011 and we want to wish you all a very nice New Year and the warmest Seasonal Greetings.