Structure-based design future directions

In contrast to Group IV-based polymerization catalysts, late transition metal complexes can carry out a number of useful transformations above and beyond the polyinsertion reaction. These include isomerization reactions and the incorporation of polar monomers, which have allowed the synthesis of branched polymer chains from ethylene alone, and of functional polyolefins via direct copolymerization. The rational design of metallocene catalysts allowed, for the first time, a precise correlation between the structure of the single site catalyst and the mi-crostructure of the olefin homo- or copolymer chain. A similar relationship does not yet exist for late transition metal complexes. This goal, however, and the enormous opportunities that may result from new monomer combinations, provide the direction and the vision for future developments. 

The topics of this volume amply illustrate the structural diversity of both terrestrial and marine natural products. We know that the reader will gain insights from the study of past milestone developments as well as pitfalls in experimental design. The critical role of dereplication in modern structure elucidation is also amply illustrated. Once the knowledge base is in hand from these chapters, we trust that many readers will be inspired to design and apply new experimental directions for future studies. 

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