Studies in Natural Products Chemistry, Volume 33

Foreword
Preface
Contributors
Focus on fluorescent proteins Structure, function and mode of action of select arthropod neuropeptides Natural products as modulators of apoptosis and their role in inflammation Sesquiterpenes classified as phytoalexins Bioactive triterpenes and related compounds from celastraceae Structure-activity relationships of sesquiterpene lactones Synthetic investigations in the field of drimane sesquiterpenoids Quassinoids: Structure diversity, biological activity and synthetic studies The diterpenoids from the genus Sideritis Recent developments in the asymmetric synthesis of lignans Natural oligostilbenes Isolation, structure elucidation and bioactivities of phenylethanoid glycosides from Cistanche, Forsythia and Plantago plants Pharmacological activities of phenylpropanoids glycosides Development of tubulin inhibitors as antimitotic agents for cancer therapy Cholesterol biosynthesis inhibitors of microbial origin Structure-activity relationships of curcumin and its analogs with different biological activities The Vinca alkaloids: From biosynthesis and accumulation in plant cells, to uptake, activity and metabolism in animal cells The chemistry of Olea Europaea The chemistry of the genus Cicer L. New research and development on the Formosan annonaceous plants Structural and functional aspects of fungal glycosphingolipids Phytochemical studies and pharmacological activities of plants in genus Hedyotis/Oldeanlandia Subject Index

Natural products present in the plant and animal kingdom offer a huge diversity of chemical structures which are the result of biosynthetic processes that have been modulated over the millennia through genetic effects. With the rapid developments in spectroscopic techniques and accompanying advances in high-throughput screening techniques, it has become possible to isolate, determine the structures and biological activity of natural products rapidly, thus opening up exciting new opportunities in the field of new drug development to the pharmaceutical industry.

The present volume contains 22 articles written by leading experts in natural product chemistry on biologically active natural products. It includes research on a variety of different classes of natural products including sesquiterpenes, quassinoids, diterpenoids, lignans, oligostilbenes, phenylethanoids, phenylpropanoid glycosides, curcumin analogues, glycosphingolipids etc. Many of these have been found to be active in a number of different disease conditions.

• Timely reviews written by international authorities in the field
• Topics ranging from purely chemical to very biological
• The 13th volume in the series to be devoted to bioactive natural products

Natural product chemists, medicinal chemists, pharmacologists as well as researchers particularly those in academica and in the pharmaceutical industry.