Current Organic Chemistry - Volume 4, Issue 12, 2000

Marine opisthobranchs represent a very interesting source of bioactive natural products, which exhibit an extraordinary variety of chemical structures. Opisthobranchs are naked molluscs, apparently unprotected by the physical constrain of a shell. In spite of this, they appear to be free of predation. Their survival is assured by a series of alternative defensive strategies which include the use of chemicals. These bioactive Read More

More than three decades ago, Kashman and coworkers [1,2] reported for the first time a class of closely related compounds from avocados (Lauraceae). This class of compounds contains several highly oxygenated long-chain acetylenic and olefinic natural products derived from fatty acids (e.g. possibly C- 18 oleic, linoleic, linolenic, or stearic acid as precursors). These products form part of a group of compounds know Read More

The Botrytis species belong to the most geographically widespread group of plant pathogens and saprophytes, and cause serious losses to very many commercial crops. These phytopathogenus fungi are the agents of the disease known as grey mould. They biosynthesise characteristic metabolites that, in vitro, produce the grey mould symptoms. The recent discovery that oxidative forces are involved when B. cinerea in Read More

Southern Africa is one of two world centres of diversity in the Hyacinthaceae, harbouring approximately half the worlds family representatives. Some 368 species in 27 genera are locally represented. Plants are well distributed throughout the region, with a predominance in the Western Cape of South Africa. Some 23 species in nine genera have been phytochemically investigated, revealing compounds belonging to a diverse r Read More