Foreword

Abstract

Natural product chemistry continues to be a treasure house of a growing diversity of natural products, many with interesting biological activities. The 16th volume of this series Studies in Natural Products Chemistry contains comprehensive reviews on synthetic approaches to the antitumor, antibiotics, actinobolin and bactobolin, fredericamycin A, the glycosidase inhibitor siastatin A, enantioselective synthesis of a number of natural products starting from cyclic monoterpenoids, stereoselective synthesis of iridoids and brassinosteroids, use of organopalladium compounds in the synthesis of prostaglandins and alkaloids and the synthesis of amino acids using transition metal organometallic methods. Recent advances in the synthesis of piperidine and indolizidine alkaloids, aporphine alkaloids, neolignans, pterocarpans, 2-aryl-2,3-dihydrobenzoquinones, photooxygenation of 4-substituted phenols, the use of furan, y-butyrolactones and fluoro-β-lactams in natural product synthesis, are also covered in the series.