Special Issue "Natural Product Pre-fractionation"

Guest Editor
Dr. John A. Beutler
Molecular Targets Laboratory, Bldg 560-1, Room 11-74A, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD 21702-1201, USA
Website: http://mtdp.nci.nih.gov/
E-Mail: beutlerj@mail.nih.gov
Phone: +1 301 846 1942
Fax: +1 301 846 6177
Interests: natural products; cancer; HIV; plants; molecular targets

Summary

Natural products provide an unparalleled source of chemical diversity for discovery of important and interesting biologically active molecules. This bounty comes at a price, since crude extracts of natural products can be difficult to screen in bioassays, and must be fractionated with guidance from the bioassay to obtain pure compounds. If the active compounds are present in trace amounts this can become a very difficult and time-consuming process, or the activity may be missed altogether. Numerous companies and academic groups have therefore sought to remedy these problems by chromatographically separating the extract to various degrees of resolution. This issue will examine a spectrum of different approaches and provide details on the technical challenges involved, the costs, and the rewards in improved identification of novel natural products.

Leading papers

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