Editorial: Mass spectrometry of small molecules and natural products
Pieter C. Dorrestein introduces the Natural Product Reports themed issue on ‘Mass spectrometry of small molecules and natural products’.
Mass spectrometry of natural products: current, emerging and future technologies
In this Highlight, we feature emerging mass spectrometric methods and tools used by the natural product community and give a perspective of future directions where the mass spectrometry field is migrating towards over the next decade.
Emerging capabilities of mass spectrometry for natural products
Mass spectrometry has a rich history in natural products research. This is likely to grow as new in situ methods of bioprospecting, structure analysis, molecular imaging, and rapid small-scale MS synthesis take hold.
NP/MS since 1970: from the basement to the bench top
This Highlight explores the evolution of applications of mass spectrometric technologies in the context of natural products research since the 1970's. The central themes are the analysis of mixtures, dereplication and structure determination. An example of sequential analysis of fragment ions (MS/MS) to provide detailed structural information on muraymycins is presented.
Secondary metabolomics: the impact of mass spectrometry-based approaches on the discovery and characterization of microbial natural products
Microbial secondary metabolomes offer tremendous opportunities for the discovery of novel natural products. Metabolomics-based approaches using modern mass spectrometry techniques can help to bridge the gap between genome-encoded potential and the usually contradictory low numbers of secondary metabolites.
New kids on the block: novel informatics methods for natural product discovery
We review four computational methods for the detection and investigation of small molecules using fragmentation MS, namely MetFrag/MetFusion, ISIS, FingerID, and FT-BLAST. These approaches may help with the dereplication of compounds at an early stage of the drug discovery process.
Mass spectrometry in plant metabolomics strategies: from analytical platforms to data acquisition and processing
Plant metabolomics is a relatively recent research field on which numerous review articles and guide books have been published in the past few years. This review article focuses on the current applications and limitations of the modern mass spectrometry techniques.
Capturing volatile natural products by mass spectrometry
This review summarises recent work on the identification of volatile natural products and investigations on their biosynthetic pathways by GC-MS.
Ion sources for mass spectrometric identification and imaging of molecular species
A variety of ion sources have been developed which can be used for the mass spectrometric identification and imaging analysis of natural products within their biological source or extracted from the same.
Review Article
Mass spectrometry imaging of plant metabolites – principles and possibilities
With imaging techniques based on mass spectrometry, highly selective images of a large number of compounds can be generated after one single experiment. The techniques are of great value in studies of secondary metabolites in plants.
Bringing microbial interactions to light using imaging mass spectrometry
This review summarizes the application, challenges, and prospect of using imaging mass spectrometry on microbial natural products research.
About this collection
Natural Product Reports is delighted to present a themed collection focusing on the Mass Spectrometry of Small Molecules and Natural Products, guest-edited by Professors Pieter Dorrestein (The Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, UC San Diego) and Bradley Moore (Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego).
Mass Spectrometry can sometimes be used as an afterthought by natural product chemists. This is rapidly changing though, and this collection of articles describes why mass spectrometry will become an indispensable tool for the next generation of natural product researchers.
The commissioned articles highlight the history and modern and emerging capabilities of mass spectrometry in the study of natural products ranging from generating accurate masses for the generation of molecular formulas, to automated structure elucidation and defining the function of natural products through spatial mapping. The full collection will feature a selection of mass spectrometrist and natural chemist perspectives on the mass spectrometric characterization of natural products, and also highlight how the characterization of any small molecule is accomplished through metabolomics.
Articles in this web themed issue will be added below as soon as possible after they are published. Please return to this page frequently to see the collection grow.
We hope you enjoy this selection!