Current Organic Chemistry - Volume 13, Issue 12, 2009

In this issue of Current Organic Chemistry, the emphasis is placed on the ever-changing field of the fungi as intriguing source of bioactive natural products and as efficient biocatalysts. I have been very pleased with the positive response to the first issue, which must be attributed to the high quality papers of the contributing authors. In my opinion this issue maintains that high level of quality and interest. So, the present issue Read More

Endophytes exhibit a complex web of interactions with host plants and with other endophytic microorganisms and therefore they have been intensively studied over the last several years as prolific sources of new and bioactive natural products. In fact, an impressive number of natural products have been produced by endophytic microorganisms. In addition, some studies have shown endophytes to be good producers o Read More

The occurrence of 2,6-cyclofarnesanes in Nature is scarce and their presence has been only described in microscopic fungi. However this class of compounds constitutes an interesting group of natural products since they present specific bioactivities. This review moves on to the advances achieved in this kind of structures. These advances are presented in three parts. The first one presents the structure and biological prop Read More

Biotransformations of sesquiterpenoids by Rhizopus species have been used to provide new derivatives with potential biological activities. In these fungal transformation processes, the main action of the Rhizopus genus has been the introduction of hydroxyl groups into remote positions of the molecules, which is difficult to achieve by chemical means. Other reactions carried out with stereo-selectivity by these microorganisms Read More

One of the major problems facing the industrialized world today is the contamination of soils, ground water, sediments, surfacewater and air with hazardous and toxic chemicals. The application of microorganisms which degrade or transform hazardous organic contaminants to less toxic compounds has become increasingly popular in recent years. This review, with approximately 300 references covering the period 2005- Read More

Xanthones or 9H-xanthen-9-ones (dibenzo-γ-pyrones) comprise an important class of oxygenated heterocycles, with prenylated derivatives being the most abundant group. The prenylated xanthones are found to possess a wide range of important biological and pharmacological activities. As a consequence of this, synthetic strategies leading to new and more complex molecules have been widely explored in the past years. In o Read More