Natural product chemistry covers a fascinating area of organic chemistry and its study has enriched organic chemistry in a myriad of different ways. In recent years the thrust has been in three major directions: advances in stereoselective synthesis of bioactive natural products, developments in structure elucidation of complex natural products through the applications of multidimensional NMR and mass spectroscopy, and the integration of bioassay procedures with the isolation processes leading to the isolation of active principles from the extracts. The present volume reflects these developments, and the growing emphasis on bioactive natural products, chemical constituents of echinoderms, diterpenoids from Rabdosia and Eremophila sp., structural studies on saponins, marine sesquiterpene quinones and antimicrobial activity of amphibian venoms. The reviews on bioactive metabolites of Phomophis, cardenolide detection by ELISA, xenocoumacins and bioactive dihydroisocoumarins, CD studies of carbohydrate-molybdate complexes, oncogene function inhibitors from microbial secondary metabolites and Gelsemium and Lupin alkaloids present frontier developments in several areas of natural product chemistry. It is hoped that the present volume, which contains articles by eminent authorities in each field, will be received with the same enthusiasm as the previous volumes of this series.
Structure-activity relationships of highly sweet natural products (A.D. Kinghorn et al.). Structural studies on chemical constituents of Echinoderms (L. Minale et al). Recent advances in the chemistry of diterpenoids from Rabdosia species (Y. Takeda, H. Otsuka). Structural elucidation of saponins (G. Massiot, C. Lavaud). The chemistry of unusual terpenoids from the genus Eremophila (E.L. Ghisalberti). Marine sesquiterpene/quinones (R.J. Capon). Antimicrobial activity of amphibian venoms (G.G. Habermehl). Bioactive metabolites of the genus Phomopsis (Y.S. Tsantrizos). Detection of cardenolides by ELISA in plant sciences (K. Yoshimatsu et al.). The Xenocoumarins and related biologically active dihydroisocoumarins (B.V McInerney, W.C. Taylor). Circular dichroism of carbohydrate-molybdate complexes (Z. Shah et al.). Screening of oncogene function inhibitors from microbial secondary metabolites (K. Umezawa). Recent advances in the chemistry of Gelsemium alkaloids (H. Takayama, S. Sakai). Chemistry, biochemistry and chemotaxonomy of Lupine alkaloids in the Leguminosae (K. Saito, I. Murakoshi).