Natural-product chemists

I have fond memories of my brief period as a natural product chemist, particularly because it de facto still involved collecting and isolating prodncts from nature s diverse plant life and doing chemistry directly on them. Most natural product chemists these days do not have this experience. 

While arthropod defensive secretions often rely for their effect on well-known aliphatic acids, aldehydes, phenols, and quinones, there are many cases in which compounds capable of whetting the appetite of any natural products chemist are utilized. For example, steroids play a... 

Emil Hardegger always had a very good relationship with his many research students. They, in turn, admired not only his scientific knowledge, but also his overall warmth and human qualities. Emil Hardegger will long be remembered in the scientific community as one of the great carbohydrate and natural-products chemists. 

The Polyketide Pathway One metabolic process that has received much attention from natural product chemists is the production of secondary metabolites via polyketide synthase (PKS) enzymes. Polyketide synthases condense small starting... 

Some of the terms and concepts used in this chapter need to be defined, because they are not necessarily used in the same way by natural product chemists. A brief selection follows where each term is printed in italics ... 

Studies continue to be published in which only the results of bioassay of fungal extracts are presented without the identification of active compounds. Some of these studies suggest significant activities for the compounds contained in the extracts. Such studies represent opportunities for the natural products chemist to collaborate with the biology- and molecular biology-oriented groups for more complete studies of the plants and associated endophytic fungi. 

Over the long term, the resources of ecologists, natural products chemists, biochemists, biologists, and molecular biologists must be coordinated to meet the individual goals of ... 

In summary, allelochemical research has generated enormous excitement for organic chemists, natural product chemists, biochemists, and industrial researchers. Many allelopathlc compounds remain to be isolated and characterized. In order to commercialize the allelopathlc products, there is a lot of hard and tedious work ahead of us. But I believe it will be a rewarding and exciting job. Maybe in eight to ten years, we will hear of many allelopathlc products from the farmers and researchers. 

There appears to still be a shortage of natural product chemists. If more natural product chemists were available for postdoctoral positions, their appetites could be whetted for allelopathic research. 

This article is dedicated to Professor FN (Norm) Lahey, natural product chemist and mentor. 

The reactions and reactivity patterns of heterocyclic compounds are rich and varied they are also in very many instances predictable with a high or complete degree of accuracy. The heterocyclic or natural product chemist can therefore, for example, plan multistage syntheses in the reasonably secure knowledge that individual steps will proceed as expected. The objective of the chapter is to give the general and non-specialist reader a feel for these reactions and reactivity patterns in the area of six-membered heterocycles. 

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