Other Sulphur-containing Natural Products

In addition to -lactam antibiotics and epidithiodioxopiperazines, investigations of several other sulphur-containing natural products have been reported. The three-dimensional structure of thiobinupharidine (177) has been proposed on the basis of chemical and spectroscopic evidence. A new alkaloid, isolated from Nuphar luteum, was shown to be the closely related neothiobinupharidine sulphoxide (178). Four new plant-growth 

Yanagawa, T. Kato, Y. Kitahara, N. Takahashi, and Y. Kato, Tetrahedron Letters, 1972, 

Reviews.— Two papers, surveying the progress in the chemistry of simple aliphatic and aromatic thioketones during the period 1964—1972, have appeared recently. Two other comprehensive reviews deal with the chemistry of thiocarbonyl halides and the synthesis of N-substituted thioureas. Synthesis, co-ordination chemistry, and analytical application of monothio- 3-diketones, synthesis and properties of transition-metal 

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The purpose of this Report is to provide a review of the major developments in the chemistry of the jS-lactam antibiotics and other sulphur-containing natural products during the period March 1974—March 1976. An excellent monograph and several articles provide a comprehensive review of the pre-1974 literature, and complement this Report. 

Lactam Antibiotics other Sulphur-containing Natural Products etc. 467... 

In accordance with intention expressed in the Preface to Volume 1 to give more detailed treatment to unusually important or topical subjects, a new chapter is introduced in this volume entitled 3-Lactam Antibiotics, Other Sulphur-containing Natural Products, and Related Compounds . 

Lactam Antibiotics, Other Sulfur-containing Natural Products, and Related Compounds , J. G. Gleason and W. D. Kingsbury, in Organic Compounds of Sulphur, Selenium and Tellurium , ed. D. R. Hogg, Royal Society of Chemistry, London, 1979, vol. 5, pp. 454-480. 

The first major attempt at precombustion desulphurisation was in the coal gas industry and a number of efficient and effective techniques for removal of H2S, COS, CS2, mercaptans and other volatile sulphur containing products of the gasification process were developed. Many of these techniques found application in the subsequent development of sour natural gas processing where large volumes of hydrogen sulphide had to be removed from the hydrocarbon component. 

Organic forms of mercury, such as methyl mercury, which caused the Minamata disease, are different from the other two forms in that they are very soluble in fat and therefore readily able to enter the brain and nervous system (see p. i8). Again the interaction with natural sulphur-containing substances in the body is important. A product of this interaction mimics an amino acid for which a specific system of transport into the brain exists. So, rather like the Spartans in the Trojan horse, mercury enters the brain, and once there it can disrupt essential processes. 

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