Natural Products Blog

The field of natural products science is enjoying a robust period of new method development after a long period where discovery methods remained largely unchanged. Areas of innovation span a wide range of topics, from new analytical modalities to a huge number of new computational tools. This special issue, guest edited by Alessandra Eustaquio, Amy Fraley, Aaron Puri and Roger Linington brings together a set of reviews each focused on a different emerging technology with the goal of clearly and frankly assessing the success of each method for natural products discovery and highlighting gaps and opportunities that could be filled by further development in each area. Please enjoy the articles in the collection below.

Brief overview of recently reported misassigned natural products and their in silico revisions enabled by DU8ML, a machine learning-augmented DFT computational NMR method
Srinivas Beduru & Andrei G. Kutateladze*
Nat. Prod. Rep., 2026, Advance Article

Emerging technologies for the discovery of biosynthetic genes in plants (Open Access)
Anne Jaczkowski, Arne Bültemeier, Benedikt Seligmann, Boas Pucker & Jakob Franke*
Nat. Prod. Rep., 2026, Advance Article

Inverse stable isotopic labeling for natural product characterization and discovery (Open Access)
Jose Miguel D. Robes & Aaron W. Puri*
Nat. Prod. Rep., 2026, Advance Article

Chemical language models for natural product discovery (Open Access)
Koh Sakano, Kairi Furui, Apakorn Kengkanna, Yuta Kikuchia & Masahito Ohue*
Nat. Prod. Rep., 2026, Advance Article

Structural determination of natural products at speeds and scale of high-throughput screening (Open Access)
Christopher C. Thornburg, Rohitesh Kumar, Dongdong Wang, Barry R. O’Keefe* & Tanja Grkovic*
Nat. Prod. Rep., 2026, Advance Article

Welcome to this special themed collection, guest edited by Mehdi Beniddir, Nadja Cech, Neha Garg and Roger Linington, dedicated to exploring the new developments that have been enabled by the application of mass spectrometry metabolomics to the natural product sciences, and to identifying both new strategies and best practices for the field. Please enjoy the articles in the collection below.

Mass spectrometry as the unifying force in natural product sciences Mehdi A. Beniddir, Nadja B. Cech, Roger Linington & Neha Garg Nat. Prod. Rep., 2026, 43, 1070-1072

Illuminating the dark space of bioactive peptides with mass spectrometry (Open Access) Nicole C. Parsley & Leslie M. Hicks* Nat. Prod. Rep., 2025, 42, 950-955

Unlocking hidden treasures: the evolution of high-throughput mass spectrometry in screening for cryptic natural products (Open Access) Brett C. Covington & Mohammad R. Seyedsayamdost* Nat. Prod. Rep., 2025, 42, 956-964

Effective data visualization strategies in untargeted metabolomics (Open Access) Kevin Mildau*, Henry Ehlers*, Mara Meisenburg, Elena Del Pup, Robert A. Koetsier, Laura Rosina Torres Ortega, Niek F. de Jonge, Kumar Saurabh Singh, Dora Ferreira, Kgalaletso Othibeng, Fidele Tugizimana, Florian Huber & Justin J. J. van der Hooft* Nat. Prod. Rep., 2025, 42, 982-1019

Describing the complex chemistry of benthic seawater: from exometabolite sampling strategies to MS-based metabolomics (Open Access) Morgane Mauduit, Stéphane Greff, Marie Derrien & Charlotte Simmler* Nat. Prod. Rep., 2025, 42, 1020-1036

‘Need for speed: high throughput’ – mass spectrometry approaches for high-throughput directed evolution screening of natural product enzymes (Open Access) Robert A. Shepherd, Conrad A. Fihn, Alex J. Tabag, Shaun M. K. McKinnie & Laura M. Sanchez* Nat. Prod. Rep., 2025, 42, 1037-1054

Mass spectrometry-based metabolomics approaches to interrogate host–microbiome interactions in mammalian systems (Open Access) Atharva S. Kulkarni, Guilherme M. P. Carrara, Jiangpeiyun Jin, Jarrod Laro, Thilini Peramuna, Laura-Isobel McCall* & Neha Garg* Nat. Prod. Rep., 2026, 43, 1078-1105

Scalability of mass spectrometry-based metabolomics for natural extracts libraries exploration: current status, challenges, and opportunities (Open Access) Adriano Rutz*, Wout Bittremieux, Robin Schmid, Olivier Cailloux, Justin J. J. van der Hooft & Mehdi A. Beniddir* Nat. Prod. Rep., 2026, 43, 1106-1129

Metabolism and bioavailability aspects of natural products of plant origin using mass spectrometry-based and metabolomic approaches (Open Access) Eleni V. Mikropoulou, Aikaterini Basdeki & Maria Halabalaki* Nat. Prod. Rep., 2026, 43, 1130-1180

Cultivar to chemotype: characterizing complex botanicals with mass spectrometry metabolomics (Open Access) Joshua J. Kellogg*, R. Teal Jordan, Madhusha M. Ranaweera, Kelsey Custer, Savannah G. Anez, Julia Bendlin, Francisco T. Chacon & Xiaoling Chen Nat. Prod. Rep., 2026, 43, 1181-1200

Natural Product Reports is delighted to present a themed collection dedicated to Fungal Natural Products.

Guest-edited by Professors Sheryl Tsai (UC Irvine) and Greg Challis (University of Warwick), the collection features contributions from leaders in the field and highlights the emerging impact of fungal biology on natural product chemistry.

This collection is also dedicated to three colleagues who have made seminal contribution to the fungal natural product research: Prof. Thomas Simpson, Craig Townsend, and John Vederas.

The recent advancement in fungal biology related to natural product biosynthesis, enzymology and biochemistry has bridged a key knowledge gap, especially in elucidating how fungi creates such a huge diverse array of natural products.

The collection comprises 3 personal Viewpoints and Perspectives by Tom Simpson, Craig Townsend and John Vederas, 6 Highlights and 6 Reviews,  for an exciting overview of this flourishing field. We hope you enjoy the read!

• Read the Editorial for this themed issue

• Access the full issue

Have you missed previous thematic collections? Access all NPR themed issues here.

Welcome to NPR issue 10, 2012

As an NPR reader, you will surely have noticed the numerous and exciting structural biosynthesis related articles that have appeared in the journal recently… 

Well, now is time to unveil the full themed issue entitled ‘Structural Aspects of Biosynthesis‘ , where you will find all of these articles grouped together for an intellectual feast.

Guest edited by Profs Sheryl Tsai (UC Irvine, USA), Bradley Moore (UC San Diego, USA) and Sarah O’Connor (John Innes Center, UK), read their Editorial for an introduction to the issue. 

Featuring 11 Reviews by leaders in their fields, the issue covers: 

• Polyketide synthases
• Non-ribosomal peptide synthetases
• Plant natural product biosynthesis
• Structural progress of bacterial enzymes in biosynthesis
• P450 enzymes for natural product modification, towards metabolic engineering

Janet L. Smith et al. (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor) have designed the artwork featuring on the cover of the issue, illustrating their review on the structural biology of marine polyketide synthases. The cover article will be FREE to access for a period of 6 weeks: 

Insights from the sea: Structural biology of marine polyketide synthases
David L. Akey, Jennifer J. Gehret, Dheeraj Khare and Janet L. Smith
Nat. Prod. Rep., 2012, 29, 1038-1049
DOI: 10.1039/C2NP20016C 

We hope you enjoy the issue! 

Let us know what you think by leaving a comment below. 

Also, why not view our previous thematic collections? Access all NPR themed issues here. 

Welcome to NPR Issue 2, one of the most exciting issues of Natural Product Reports: the Marine Natural Products themed issue.

This themed issue has been guest edited by four of our Editorial Board members: Marcel Jaspars, Bradley Moore, Joern Piel and Russell Cox.
Let me say thanks to all of them for their enthusiasm and hard work putting this very interesting issue together.

This issue covers a number of aspects of marine natural product chemistry. From their structural diversity and synthesis to their natural function and their ecological role. Discover everything this marine natural products themed issue offers and read it now.

If you want to take a look at the first Marine Natural themed issue published in 2004 you can do it here:
Marine Natural Products 2004
Enjoy it!

Did you miss the recent NPR themed issue on synthesis of natural products?

The issue contains review articles on topics ranging from organocatalysis in natural products synthesis to the synthesis of marine natural products. Also featured is a Viewpoint article by Sam Danishefsky on why natural products should be seen as key leads for the pharmaceutical industry.

Take a look at the issue online, or contact the editorial office if you would like more information about NPR.

Six reviews focussing on research at the forefront of natural products synthesis have been published in NPR’s latest themed issue.

The issue opens with the first Viewpoint – a new article type for NPR – in which Sam Danishefsky argues in favour of a reappraisal of the role of natural products as leads for the pharmaceutical industry (DOI: 10.1039/c003211p). Five Review articles follow on topics from across the diverse range of natural products synthesis, including organocatalysis and marine natural products. View the issue This issue follows on from the successful first NPR natural products synthesis themed issue, published in 2008. Since then this key area of research has become an established part of NPR and high-quality synthesis reviews are regularly published throughout the year.

The NPR Editorial Board welcomes ideas for future articles and so if you are interested in writing for the journal please contact the Editorial Office.