Natural products chemistry, effect

The poor discovery rate for new leads from combinatorial chemistry approaches indicate that natural products chemistry will continue to warrant support. However attention to source material, particularly the true biological origin of desired metabolites, direct assessments of chemical diversity and effective dereplication strategies, is essential. 

The next milestone appeared in the 1950s in the context of the development of asymmetric reactions. Various stereochemical reactions induced by facial discrimination of the carbonyl group have always been pivotal in this field. Cram s rule inspired an explosion of studies on diastereoselective reactions followed by enan-tioselective versions. The recent outstanding progress in the non-linear effect of chirality or asymmetric autocatalysis heavily relies on the carbonyl addition reactions. Thanks to these achievements, natural products chemistry has enjoyed extensive advancement in the synthesis of complex molecules. It is no exaggeration to say that we are now in a position to be able to make any molecules in as highly selective a manner as we want. 

As reported in the structural determination of BL, CS, DL, and typhasterol, MS is an essential technique for BRs isolated in pure form. However, in most cases, isolation of BRs in pure form is time-consuming and tedious work because of their very low concentration in plant materials. BRs are highly polar and involatile compounds. Therefore, conversion of BRs into volatile derivatives in gas phase makes it easy to characterize BRs in a partially purified bioactive fraction by GC/MS or GC/selected ion monitoring (SIM), which are analytical techniques most frequently used in natural products chemistry. The desired derivatives of BRs are BMBs or MB-TMSs. Another convenient and useful technique is HPLC. HPLC has now been routinely and effectively employed in the purification of natural BRs. Microanalysis of BRs by HPLC has recently been developed, which involves transformation of BRs into derivatives with a fluorophore or an electrophore by use of pre-labeling reagents. Immunoassay techniques to analyze plant hormones have recently advanced and are readily accessible by plant physiologists. RIA for BRs has also been developed. In this section, micro-analytical methods of BRs using GC/MS (SIM), HPLC, and RIA are described. 

The isolation and purification of a bioactive compound is a rate-limiting step in a natural products chemistry project, and significant improvement in this area is urgently needed. We have approached this problem with a view toward exploring the application of sophisticated modern scientific instruments. Our goal was to develop a process that is not only capable of effective fractionation, but also yields sufficient quantities necessary for structure elucidation and extensive biological evaluation. In addition, the process would allow us to distinguish between known and new compounds (dereplication) at an earlier phase of the project. 

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