Medicinal Chemistry of Bioactive Natural Products provides a much-needed survey of bioactive natural products and their applications in medicinal chemistry. This comprehensive reference features articles by some of the world's leading scientists in the field on discovery, structure elucidation, and elegant synthetic strategies-developed for natural products-with an emphasis on the structure activity relationship of bioactive natural products. The topics have been carefully chosen on the basis of relevance to current research and to importance as clinicially useful agents.

Rather than attempting to be a comprehensive encyclopedia of bioactive natural products, Medicinal Chemistry of Bioactive Natural Products guides the reader to the key developments in the field. By providing not only practical detail but a historical perspective on the chemistry and biology of the compounds under consideration, the book serves as a handy resource for researchers in their own work developing pharmaceuticals, and as an inspiring introduction for young scientists to the dynamic field of bioactive natural products research.

Enhanced by examples with updated research results, the discussion covers such topics as:
* The chemistry and biology of epothilones
* Vancomycin and other glycopeptide antibiotic derivates
* Antitumor and other related activities of Taxol and its analogs
* The antimalarial properties of the traditional Chinese medicine, Quinghaosu (artemisinin)
* Huperzine A: A natural drug for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease
* The medicinal chemistry of ginkgolides from Ginkgo biloba
* Recent progress in Calophyllum coumarins as potent anti-HIV agents
* Plant-derived anti-HIV agents and analogs
* Chemical synthesis of annonaceous acetogenins and their structurally modified mimics