Microbial Secondary Metabolites with Unique Pharmacological Activity

12 Microbial Secondary Metabolites with Unique Pharmacological Activity 

From the very beginning of synthetic organic chemistry, studies have been intrinsically connected to natural products from varying sources. In contrast to 

Our compilation of biologically/therapeutically relevant microbial-derived natural products given in Table 7.2 contains compounds that are under development or have already been marketed. One important question for a successful future remains what rationale could be used to guide the selection of specific microorganisms to furnish new chemical entities in a fast and economic fashion  

In this brief chapter we have attempted to highlight both the past and the present, and to hint at the future of the study of microbial compounds which we believe will continue to lead to the discovery and development of new and useful products. There is no question that in the past medicine and agriculture have benefited from the wide variety of potent microbial metabolites. The diversity of chemistry that microorganisms are able to exploit has led to large numbers of unique structures with three-dimensional characteristics giving them equally unexpected and unique biological activity recent results have shown that these compounds frequently display multiple activities. 

At this moment, as illustrated by this and other chapters in this book, there are many interesting and unusual microbial metabolites being studied as scientifically valuable probes and in development as either new pharmaceuticals or agrochemicals. Although the field of microbial metabolites has been 

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