40 Years of Natural Product Reports

As 2024 marked the 40th anniversary of Natural Product Reports (NPR), we have taken this opportunity to reflect on the progress of NPR over the last forty years.

Since the first issue was published in 1984, the journal has published over 1700 articles under the leadership of six Editorial Board chairs: Gerry Pattenden, Thomas J. Simpson, David O’Hagan, Marcel Jaspars, Bradley Moore and Tobias Gulder. Upon its inception, NPR’s aim was to publish comprehensive reviews in areas previously covered by the Specialist Periodical Reports: ‘The Alkaloids’, ‘Terpenoids and Steroids’, ‘Biosynthesis’, and ‘Aliphatic and Related Natural Product Chemistry’, as well as other related fields of natural product chemistry, including chemotaxonomy, enzymology, biosynthetic aspects of biotechnology, and chromatographic and spectroscopic methods.

The field of natural product chemistry has undergone remarkable transformations throughout its long history. From ancient times, when natural remedies, e.g., prepared from plants, were directly applied, to today’s cutting-edge methodologies, this discipline has both benefited from and driven analytical and technological innovations. For example, the development of modern separation and analytical techniques – such as NMR, MS, and X-ray crystallography – revolutionized natural product research, enabling the isolation and structural characterization of complex molecules. These breakthroughs paved the way for in-depth phenotypic activity profiling and later, target-based screening of purified compounds for streamlined discovery of chemical entities of value for medical applications. Enhanced sampling technologies have further expanded the field’s reach, allowing systematic exploration of diverse environments, including the marine ecosystem.

Significant progress has also been made in understanding natural product biosynthesis. Traditional isotopic labelling experiments, once the primary tool for deciphering biosynthetic pathways, have been vastly supplemented by state-of-the-art bioinformatics, genomics, and biomolecular techniques. Advances in cloning, pathway engineering, and enzyme profiling now allow molecular-level insights into biosynthetic assembly. These innovations have extended beyond microbial sources, enabling efficient interrogation and manipulation of biosynthetic pathways in higher organisms, particularly plants. The integration of bioinformatics and metabolomics has again revolutionized the field, enabling large-scale discovery of biosynthetic pathways and hence new compounds. These technologies have also expanded the scope of research questions, e.g., making it possible to explore highly complex microbiomes at the molecular and functional levels.

Synthetic organic chemistry has remained an essential partner to natural product research, aiding in structural validation, providing and optimizing bioactive compounds through total and semi-synthetic approaches, and driving the development of novel synthetic transformations and strategies. The growing potential of biocatalysis, fueled by advances in enzyme discovery, expression, and engineering, is beginning to significantly impact natural product synthesis and development.

Looking ahead, the next major revolution is already underway – the integration of AI-driven approaches into every aspect of natural product research. These innovations promise to further accelerate discovery, streamline workflows, and unlock entirely new possibilities and approaches at an unprecedented scale.

Similarly over the years, we have sought to evolve the journal and it has now grown into a vibrant platform publishing a variety of different article types, with each article usually focusing on the key developments or challenges that have shaped a field. We want to stimulate progress and provide fresh perspectives in all areas of interest to the natural products community. We continue to retain initiatives that are key for our community, such as the annual Marine Natural Products review. Initially written by Professor D. John Faulkner from 1984 until 2002, and now led by a community of authors from Australia, New Zealand and the United States, this important review continues to be one of the most popular articles published in the journal. Since 1996, we have also published our regular ‘Hot off the Press’ articles, led by Robert A. Hill and supported by a number of co-authors throughout the years, most recently Andrew Sutherland. These articles continue to be featured in every other issue of the journal, providing a general review of the latest literature published in the months preceding their publication.

The journal values input from all members of our community at all stages of their careers. Since 2013, we have supported early career researchers through the NPR Emerging Investigator Lectureship award. This award celebrates outstanding early career researchers who have made significant contributions to the natural products field, providing them with a platform to showcase their research to the wider scientific community. To date, we have honoured twelve recipients, with the most recent award presented to Fidele Ntie-Kang from the University of Buea, Cameroon. As well as this, we are pleased to publish our growing Emerging Investigator Review series, which showcases the leaders of tomorrow in the natural products field.

40th Anniversary celebrations

To celebrate the community that has supported the journal over the last forty years, we are delighted to present a collection of contributions from members who have served on the NPR Editorial Board, who have played a crucial role in guiding the journal to its respected position today.

We were also delighted to welcome the community to Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS) for a special one-day symposium to celebrate NPR’s 40th anniversary on 8th November 2024. The programme included talks from across the breadth of natural product research from the journal’s Editorial Board and leading local researchers. We thank the speakers and attendees of our symposium (Fig. 1) for their participation and contribution to many engaging and insightful discussions.

Fig. 1 Speakers and attendees of the Natural Product Reports 40th Anniversary Symposium, held 8th November 2024 at Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland.

We would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone who has supported NPR throughout its 40-year history. Firstly, past and present Editorial Board members dedicate significant effort to solicit high impact articles from the community and provide guidance to authors submitting synopses to the journal, as well as supporting the peer review process. We also thank our Advisory Board members, authors, reviewers, and readers for their contributions – without these we would not have maintained the quality of our content and position as the trusted home for reviews in natural products research. Looking ahead, we want to be forward-facing and hope to serve the natural products community for many years to come. We hope that you enjoy reading our 40th anniversary collection.

 

Tobias Gulder, Editorial Board Chair, Natural Product Reports

Katie Lim, Executive Editor, Natural Product Reports

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