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- Volume 18, Issue 7, 2014
Current Organic Chemistry - Volume 18, Issue 7, 2014
Volume 18, Issue 7, 2014
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Natural Products with Health Benefits from Marine Biological Resources
More LessOcean is the cradle of lives, which provides a diverse array of intriguing natural products that capture scientists’ great attention in the past few decades due to their significant and extremely potent biological activities. In addition to being rich sources for pharmaceutical drugs, marine natural products are increasingly recognized as sources in the discovery of functional foods and dietary supplements and provide useful probes to lead to breakthroughs in various scientific fields. With an emphasis on the bioactive and nutritional compounds discovered from the sea, four sections are covered in this paper: 1) historical review of breakthroughs on marine natural products; 2) metabolites from marine organisms with health benefits; 3) commercial applications related to marine organisms and their metabolites; 4) separation and isolation techniques used in marine natural products.
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Structure, Biological Properties and Utilities of Marine-derived Antimicrobial Peptides
More LessMarine organisms, as a rich recourse of numerous bioactive compounds, have been reported to produce antimicrobial peptides (AMP). Antimicrobial peptides are small molecular weight peptides which protect the host organisms against multiple microbes. Due to the non-toxicity, broad-spectrum antimicrobial activities and the ability to escape drug-resistance mechanisms, antimicrobial peptides are valued as a potential treasure in pharmaceutical and food industries. In this review, we summarized the classification, biological properties, and functions of marine-derived antimicrobial peptides and their application prospects in different fields.
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Macrolactins: Antitumor Antibiotics as Marine Drug Lead
Authors: Tingting Wang, Shan He, Xiaojun Yan and Peng ZhuMacrolactins are secondary metabolites mainly from marine microorganisms bearing a unique 24-membered lactone core structure. Since their first occurrence in 1989, they have attracted considerable attention from natural product chemists, organic chemists, and pharmacologists due to their chemical complexity, potent antimicrobial and antitumor activities. Some of them are serving as lead compounds for drug discovery. Although a number of synthetic approaches have been developed, sample supply remains a big issue which precludes further investigation of pharmacological application and mechanisms of action. This review summarizes current knowledge about macrolactins including their chemical diversity, biological activities, synthetic studies, and efficient preparation.
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Marine Toxin Structure Elucidation by Mass Spectrometry
By Pengyuan LiuMass spectrometry (MS) analysis plays an important role in the structural elucidation of natural marine toxins. In MS analysis, the chemical structural elucidation is mainly achieved by tandem MS (MS/MS) and multiple stage MS (MSn) techniques, in which fragmented product ions are used to interpret precursor ion structures. Herein we discuss the MS/MS and MSn behaviors of major marine toxins, such as domoic acid, anatoxins, saxitoxins, tetrodotoxins, okadaic acid, dinophysistoxins, azaspiracids, gymnodimines, spirolides, pinnatoxins, brevetoxins, ciguatoxins, yessotoxins, brevisulcenal-F, palytoxins, and protein/peptide toxins like conotoxins. In this review, our primal focus is on organization of literature data after 2000.
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Quorum Sensing Inhibitors from the Sea: Lessons from Marine Symbiotic Relationships
Authors: Mariana C. Chifiriuc, Alexandru M. Grumezescu and Veronica LazarThe over-prescription and misuse of microbiostatic or microbicidal chemical compounds led to the emergence of antibiotic resistance and multiresistance in bacterial strains. The genetic resistance of bacterial cells is amplified when they are growing in biofilms, known for the high phenotypic resistance or tolerance to antimicrobial agents, explaining their high incidence in the etiology of infectious diseases. Currently, there are many research groups in the entire world focusing their investigations on the elucidation of different aspects of bacterial intra- and intercellular communication dependent on the cellular density and regulated by the quorum-sensing and response system (QS), including the isolation of natural compounds, as well as the synthesis of biomimetic analogues or antagonists of QS molecules, with potential prophylactic and therapeutic value for the management of animal and human infections, as well as for fighting the negative consequences of biofouling phenomenon occurring in natural environments. Taking into account the vital importance of the antifouling protection of the photosyntetic organisms in the natural marine environment, the screening of marine organisms for finding new anti-pathogenic, non-lethal compounds represents a promising perspective for the development of efficient preventive and therapeutic strategies of bacterial infections produced by resistant phenotypes, associated with biofilm development.
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Terpenoids form the Sea: Chemical Diversity and Bioactivity
By Kuiwu WangMarine organisms are a rich source of biologically active terpenes. Some of them exhibit antiviral, antifouling, antitumor, antimicrobial, antifungal, activities. The present paper reviews the latest progress in the chemistry and pharmacological activities of terpenoids from marine organisms.
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Design Polysaccharides of Marine Origin: Chemical Modifications to Reach Advanced Versatile Compounds
Authors: Nathalie Chopin, Xavier Guillory, Pierre Weiss, Jean L. Bideau and Sylvia Colliec-JouaultPolysaccharides are among the most abundant macromolecules on Earth. These polymers are easily obtained from various marine resources such as algae, microorganisms and crustacean shells. The structure of these natural carbohydrates is innovative and quite complex. Marine biopolymers represent key scaffolds toward large challenging fields, such as biomedical applications (glycosaminoglycans, regenerative medicine and drug delivery) and tailored biomaterials. Chemical modifications can be applied to modify their final properties in a specific purpose. New functional glycans are achievable and represent a real potential with their intrinsic biocompatibility and biodegradability. Hydroxyl groups are ubiquitous in polysaccharides structure and involved in most of the chemical modifications. The most useful functionalities are ester, ether, amide, amine and alkyl groups. The starting materials could be a natural or depolymerized polymers and the reaction considered with a regioselective point of view. In this review, we will focus on chitin polysaccharide, which is extracted according to industrial processing from exoskeleton of several marine crustaceans. A subsequent deacylation provides chitosan. This marine polysaccharide is very similar to cellulose, a widespread fiber plant organic polymer, except for an amine group on the C2 position instead of a hydroxyl group. Furthermore, seaweeds provide the most abundant sources of polysaccharides: alginates, agar/agarose, carrageenans and fucoidans. In order to improve the original physicochemical and biochemical properties, we will highlight the chemical modifications involving the listed marine polysaccharides of interest.
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Bioproducts from Seaweeds: A Review with Special Focus on the Iberian Peninsula
Seaweeds, i.e. macroalgae that occupy the littoral zone, are a great source of compounds with diverse applications; their types and content greatly determine the potential applications and commercial values. Algal polysaccharides, namely the hydrocolloids: agar, alginate and carrageenan, as well as other non-jellifying polysaccharides and oligosaccharides, are valuable bioproducts. Likewise, pigments, proteins, amino acids and phenolic compounds are also important, exploitable compounds. For the longest time the dominant market for macroalgae has been the food industry. More recently, several other industries have increased their interest in algal-derived products, e.g. cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and more recently, as a source of feedstock for biorefinery applications. This manuscript reviews the chemical composition of dominant macroalgae, as well as their potential added-value products and applications. Particular attention is devoted to the macroalgal species from the Iberian Peninsula. This is located in the Southwest of Europe and is influenced by the distinct climates of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, representing a rich spot of marine floral biodiversity.
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The Potential Biomedical Application of Cyclopeptides from Marine Natural Products
By Yuping ZhouThe largely unexplored marine would represent a unique and excellent resource of new natural products. The chemical and biological diversity of the marine environment formed a practically unlimited resource of new bioactive substances. Marine natural products captured the attention of natural products chemists because they exhibit significant and extremely potent biological activities. With the development of technologies and methodologies for structure elucidation, organic synthesis and biological assay, more and more marine natural products are isolated and investigated, ranging from simple peptides to macrocyclicpolyethers. Due to its bioactive property, marine natural products have yielded a considerable number of drug candidates. Some are already on the market or will be approved soon, such as Ziconotide (Prialt; Elan Pharmaceuticals), the first marine-derived compound approved in the United States for the treatment of pain. This compound is a peptide originally discovered in a tropical cone snail, while most of them are still in preclinical development. Naturally occurring cyclopeptides, in particular, exhibit a wide variety of potent biological activities. Some exhibit potent insecticidal activity and antimicrobial activity, while others have strong antifungal and antiproliferative activity. Hence, cyclopepiptides can be potential drug candidates. This review highlights the potential biomedical application of cyclopeptides from marine nature products.
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Stress-driven Discovery of Natural Products from Extreme Marine Environment- Kueishantao Hydrothermal Vent, a Case Study of Metal Switch Valve
Authors: Wei Jiang, Yuqian Zhong, Li Shen, Xiaodan Wu, Ying Ye, Chen-Tung A. Chen and Bin WuMarine hydrothermal vent microbial habitats are strongly influenced by elevated levels of heavy metals. Hydrothermal microorganisms respond rapidly to the changes in the concentrations and availability of metals within their environment, where geothermally heated water reacts with its host rock forming fluids that nourish a diverse array of geothermally dependent microorganisms. Most marine fungi possess a remarkable capability for the synthesis of a broad variety of biologically active secondary metabolites. One major obstacle in identifying secondary metabolites, however, is the known phenomenon of sleeping gene clusters and non-activated biosynthesis pathways which are present, but latent under standard screening conditions. Here, we proceed to show that non-activated or inert biosynthesis pathways can be awakened by the elicitation of heavy metal stress. In order to gain a more detailed insight into the nature of metal mediated products in marine fungi a chemical screening with extracts of biomass of two fungal strains derived from metal-rich Kueishantao hydrothermal vent environments was carried out to assay the influence of heavy metals on secondary metabolic patterns of marine fungi. Metabolite patterns of cultures grown in minimal media were compared to copper (or cadmium) spiked parallels. The results showed that contrarily to the widely held opinion of metals as hindrance in secondary metabolism, metals can induce synthesis of metabolites with a backbone not detected or detected as minor products in the normal cultures without metal stress. Hence, putative latent biosynthesis pathways in the hydrothermal vent fungi were deduced to be activated and switched by metals. Stress-driven discovery of natural products from hydrothermal vent fungi strain is a valid strategy to unveil the untapped reservoir of small molecules from hydrothermal vent environment.
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Volumes & issues
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Volume 29 (2025)
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Volume 28 (2024)
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Volume 27 (2023)
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Volume 26 (2022)
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Volume 25 (2021)
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Volume 24 (2020)
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Volume 23 (2019)
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Volume 22 (2018)
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Volume 21 (2017)
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Volume 20 (2016)
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Volume 19 (2015)
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Volume 18 (2014)
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Volume 17 (2013)
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Volume 16 (2012)
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Volume 15 (2011)
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Volume 14 (2010)
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Volume 13 (2009)
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Volume 12 (2008)
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Volume 11 (2007)
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Volume 10 (2006)
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Volume 9 (2005)
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Volume 8 (2004)
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Volume 7 (2003)
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Volume 6 (2002)
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Volume 5 (2001)
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Volume 4 (2000)