Editorial: Marine Natural Products themed issue

The recent approval of Halaven (eribulin mesylate) by the U.S. FDA for advanced breast cancer is cause for celebration for two reasons. The first is that the original source, the sponge Halichondria okadai, establishes that marine invertebrates are a major source of new pharmacophores and gives hope to the many other marine drugs in human clinical trials. The second is the power of chemical synthesis to simplify the original bioactive molecule, halichondrin B, to eribulin, which was generated in a tour-de-force 62-step synthesis by chemists at Eisai, who had to control 19 stereocentres.

This themed issue covers a number of aspects of marine natural product chemistry. The first is their structural diversity, and the annual Marine Natural Products article by Blunt et al. (DOI: 10.1039/c005001f) is a regular feature for NPR that this time concludes with a section on the drug-likeness of marine natural products. The complementary article on their synthesis by Phillips and colleagues (DOI: 10.1039/c0np00066c) regains its natural place in this issue. A comprehensive update on marine fungal natural products by Ebel and Rateb is also included (DOI: 10.1039/c0np00061b).

Determining the natural functions of these metabolites is also of major interest, as an understanding of their ecological role and mechanisms of action in Nature may be important in more efficient searches for new pharmacophores from marine species. This issue contains two overviews of marine chemical ecology, one concentrating on benthic environments by Paul et al. (DOI: 10.1039/c0np00040j), and the other on planktonic environments by Kubanek and co-workers (DOI: 10.1039/c0np00051e). A topic of recent interest, covered in this issue by Paul and Pohnert, is the production of halogenated volatiles by marine algae and their role in climate functioning (DOI: 10.1039/c0np00043d). Finally, the use of ecological studies to discover novel antifouling substances from marine invertebrates is reviewed by Fusetani (DOI: 10.1039/c0np00034e).

Our increase in the understanding of the biosynthesis of these complex metabolites over the last ten years is summarised by Moore and Lane (DOI: 10.1039/c0np90032j), and the biogenetic speculation on the norcembranoids from Sinularia species is covered in a thoughtful article by Li and Pattenden (DOI: 10.1039/c0np00029a).

It is clear from these combined articles that the field of marine natural products is thriving, and that increased understanding of their functions and biosyntheses is leading to an increased discovery rate of novel structures with high bioactivities which may be translated into the clinic in the near future.

 

Marcel Jaspars

Bradley Moore

Joern Piel

Russell Cox

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