S. La Barre – Outstanding Marine Molecules (2014)

Автор: S. La Barre
Название книги: Outstanding Marine Molecules
Формат: PDF
Жанр: Биологические науки
Страницы: 535
Качество: Изначально компьютерное, E-book

Using a number of outstanding examples, this text introduces readers to the immense variety of marine natural compounds, the methodologies to characterize them and the approaches to explore their industrial potential. Care is also taken to discuss the function and ecological context of the compounds.
Carefully produced and easy to read, this book serves students and professionals wishing to familiarize themselves with the field, and is ideally suited as a course book for both industry to academia.

Natural products (secondary metabolites) which once were focused on alkaloids and terpenes nowcover an infinitemolecular diversity, and are merging with primary metabolites through omics connections. Today, it is assumed that druggable molecules can also be a matter of bioinspired thinking through close and synergistic partnerships between chemists, biologists and chemical ecologists. Unfortunately, the discovery of newscientific concepts, novel analytical approaches or simply of state-of-the-art techniques tends to be overemphasized, overestimated or overpublicized, relegating essential questioning and basic concerns to the background. In the case of natural products, the isolation of new molecules is currently greatly hampered by this shift in focus, and we feel that the quest for new natural structures (i.e., sourcing) should be actively maintained in the face of pending climate- or humankind-driven habitat degradations and biodiversity destruction. The structural determination of natural new molecules is vital, given its considerable importance for any biological investigation, and includes an understanding of the ecosystems that function at the molecular level and the development of rational products for the treatment of diseases. While structural determination can be achieved more quickly by spectroscopic and crystallographic means, the acquisition of adequate funding for natural products projects is becoming increasingly difficult for both industrial and academic communities alike. The paradox is that the demand for new active molecules is now heralded as a major priority! Recent advances in organic chemistry and in metabolomics analyses, together with the advent of the postgenomic era, now make it possible to envisage a critical role for natural products chemistry in chemical biology and in chemical ecology, with a timely integration into the multidisciplinary systems biology approach. But, can all of this be envisaged without knowing the structure of the molecule? The answer is definitely: no! In this book is presented a selection of marine molecules which have attracted the attention of a wide panel of reputed scientists worldwide, and especially within the national research network that I am proud to have managed for several years.
To the series of comprehensive chapters on marine molecules, deemed outstanding for their interesting structures, their amazing bioactivities, or their environmental significance, critical and highly documented reviews of modern laboratory experimentation have been added. It is hoped that this contribution will provide inspiration to the generation of new scientists and motivate them to embrace a meaningful human healthoriented career, or to invent environmentally dedicated tools and approaches for the benefit of all.