Studies in Natural Products Chemistry, Volume 6

The synthesis of complex natural products has attracted the efforts of the foremost organic chemists, both because many natural products have exhibited significant biological activity and because they have taxed the ingenuity of many brilliant minds towards developing synthetic routes to them. During the last decade, organic synthesis has evolved in an accelerated manner, particularly in the field of stereoselective methods for the synthesis of natural products of increasing complexity. The present volume is the fourth devoted to stereoselective synthesis. The articles included in the book cover the synthetic approaches to marine terpenoids, allenic and acetylenic carotenoids, gibberellins, antheridiogens, fungal metabolites, macrocycle antibiotics, sugar analogues, peptidoglycan analogues, chemical defense agents in ants, medium sized ring heterocycles, Strychnos alkaloids, semiochemicals and bioregulators. The authoritative reviews are all written by distinguished scientists and will undoubtedly prove to be informative and interesting.

Foreword. Total synthesis of polycarbocyclic marine terpenoids (J.D. Martin). Stereoselective total syntheses of spongian-type diterpenes and scalarane-type sesterterpenes of metabolites from marine sponge organisms (T. Nakano). Allenic and acetylenic carotenoids (S. Liaaen-Jensen). Synthetic studies on gibberellins and antheridiogens (L.N. Mander). Recent advances in the chemistry of secondary metabolites isolated from Fusarium species (M.E. Savard et al.) Amphotericin B: synthetic studies (O.S. Chizhov). Development of dithioacetal S-oxides and S,S-dioxides as synthetic reagents (K. Ogura). Sugar analogs containing carbon-phosphorus bonds (H. Yamamoto, T. Hanaya). Syntheses and reactions of sugar-peptide structures related to cell-wall peptidoglycan from bacteria (D. Keglevic). Chemical defense in ants (J.C. Braekman, D. Daloze). Some aspects of heterocyclic chemistry related to isoquinoline-derived alkaloids (J.B. Bremner). Alkaloids of Strychnos dinklagei: structure and chemistry (S. Michel et al.). Chiral synthesis of natural products as semiochemicals and bioregulators (T. Kitahara). Subject Index.