Medicinal Chemistry of Bioactive Natural Products

Current discoveries and research into bioactive natural products Medicinal Chemistry of Bioactive Natural Products provides a much-needed survey of bioactive natural products and their applications in medicinal chemistry. This comprehensive reference features articles by some of the world's leading scientists in the field on discovery, structure elucidation, and elegant synthetic strategies--developed for natural products--with an emphasis on the structure activity relationship of bioactive natural products. The topics have been carefully chosen on the basis of relevance to current research and to importance as clinicially useful agents. Rather than attempting to be a comprehensive encyclopedia of bioactive natural products, Medicinal Chemistry of Bioactive Natural Products guides the reader to the key developments in the field. By providing not only practical detail but a historical perspective on the chemistry and biology of the compounds under consideration, the book serves as a handy resource for researchers in their own work developing pharmaceuticals, and as an inspiring introduction for young scientists to the dynamic field of bioactive natural products research. Enhanced by examples with updated research results, the discussion covers such topics as: * The chemistry and biology of epothilones * Vancomycin and other glycopeptide antibiotic derivates * Antitumor and other related activities of Taxol and its analogs * The antimalarial properties of the traditional Chinese medicine, Quinghaosu (artemisinin) * Huperzine A: A natural drug for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease * The medicinal chemistry of ginkgolides from Ginkgo biloba * Recent progress in Calophyllum coumarins as potent anti-HIV agents * Plant-derived anti-HIV agents and analogs * Chemical synthesis of annonaceous acetogenins and their structurally modified mimics

XIAO-TIAN LIANG received his BS degree from the National Central University (China) in 1946 and his PhD degree from the University of Washington at Seattle (USA) in 1951. After postdoctoral work at Harvard University, he joined the faculty of the Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. In 1980, he was elected as an Academician of Academia Sinica (Chinese Academy of Sciences) and has served on the advisory editorial boards of Tetrahedron and Tetrahedron Letters, among other scientific journals. He coauthored more than 300 scientific papers and reviews, and has written or edited more than ten books.

WEI-SHUO FANG graduated from Beijing Medical University, and obtained his PhD degree from Peking Union Medical College (PUMC) in 1997. After postdoctoral training in the US, he joined the faculty of the Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & PUMC. He has conducted visiting study in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and coauthored more than thirty articles in peer-reviewed journals.