| Synopsis: |
In spite of the advent of combinatorial chemistry, which is providing the pharmaceutical industry with a large number of compounds for testing, such combinatorial approaches suffer from the limitation that the resulting compounds possess a rather narrow structural diversity, depending on the structures of the starting materials. Natural products, however, exhibit an almost infinite structural diversity, thereby offering the possibility of revealing novel, hitherto unknown mechanisms of biological activity and new probes to explore biological systems. Natural products will therefore continue to provide a treasure house of substances in man's continuing fight against disease. These reviews, written by eminent authorities, cover a wide range of topics such as bioactive terpenes, anti-tumour compounds, anti-viral agents, enzyme inhibitors, marine natural products, drugs from Mexican traditional medicines, and Kampo medicines. |