viii Preface The biologicalactivity of anextract of marine organismsorisolatedcompounds could be assessed in several ways.Due to limited amount of the material generally available initiallyandhighcostofbiologicaltesting,itisimpossible inany laboratory toexamineallpermutationodrg-anmalinteracton.tounm of a mater rug ha 21 the tho ed ofbr and ugs fr Marine natural products chemistry has ed through several phases of develonment the scuba diving made the collection of materials from deep seas easy.Effective methodsof isolation provided many potent compounds in pure form. Advancement in instrumentation methods such as nuclear magnetic resonance mass spectrometric techniques and X-ray diffraction have helped to solve many intricate structural and stereochemical problems.The present text is an effort to fil up the void in bioactive marine natural products.It would be inappropriate toclaim aof all bioactive compounds hasbeen mad Attempts have eoayoftcmeboies ep. nd el .h activity of m rin fhi hioactive marine nucleosideshioactive marinealkaloids hioactive marine tides and marine prostaglandins are dealt with in separate chapters so that the book mav be adopted at any stage by any practicing organic chemist and biologist working in the academic institutions and R&D organizations.Each chapter in the beginning provides highlights of the main points discussed in the text with concluding remark at the end.References of books,monographs,review articles andoriginal papers are givenattheendofeachchapter.Conside ble progresshasbeen ma organic. biologic aluat a and an n.FRS.Nob to T ed Dr B narine natural nducts The a ateful to hi writing the fo before his sad demise.Thanks are due to the authorities of central drug re Institute lucknow for providing library facilities and to Dr s varadaraian FNA,former President,Indian National Science Academy,New Delhi and Prof.John W.Blunt.Department of Chemistry.University of Canterbury New Zealand for sending interesting information about marine organisms.Thanks are due to Prof.R.S.Verma,Lucknow University,for his valuable suggestior M he pub members of M/s a Pu ject and offe us(DSB an uppo D.S.BHAKUNI DS RAWAT The biological activity of an extract of marine organisms or isolated compounds could be assessed in several ways. Due to limited amount of the material generally available initially and high cost of biological testing, it is impossible in any laboratory to examine all permutation of drug-animal interaction, to unmask the drug potential of a material. Besides, the candidate drug has to pass through rigorous toxicological evaluation and clinical trials before it reaches the clinician’s armamentarium. A fair understanding of biological, toxicological and clinical evaluation is essential to those interested in searching potential drugs from marine organisms. Marine natural products chemistry has passed through several phases of development. The scuba diving made the collection of materials from deep seas easy. Effective methods of isolation provided many potent compounds in pure form. Advancement in instrumentation methods such as nuclear magnetic resonance, mass spectrometric techniques and X-ray diffraction have helped to solve many intricate structural and stereochemical problems. The present text is an effort to fill up the void in bioactive marine natural products. It would be inappropriate to claim that a complete coverage of all bioactive compounds has been made. Attempts have nevertheless been made not to leave out any of the major class of bioactive compounds. The chemistry and biology of the bioactive metabolites of marine algae, fungi and bacteria and of marine invertebrates; separation and isolation techniques; biological, toxicological and clinical evaluation; bioactivity of marine organisms; biosynthesis of bioactive metabolites of marine organisms; bioactive marine toxins; bioactive marine nucleosides; bioactive marine alkaloids, bioactive marine peptides; and marine prostaglandins are dealt with in separate chapters so that the book may be adopted at any stage by any practicing organic chemist and biologist working in the academic institutions and R&D organizations. Each chapter in the beginning provides highlights of the main points discussed in the text with concluding remarks at the end. References of books, monographs, review articles and original papers are given at the end of each chapter. Considerable progress has been made in the biological evaluation. Thus, marine natural products have drawn organic, medicinal and bioorganic chemists, pharmacologists, biologists and ecologists to work in this area. The book is dedicated to the late Sir Derek Barton, FRS, Nobel Laureate, Texas, A&M University, USA, who encouraged Dr. Bhakuni to write a book on bioactive marine natural products. The authors are grateful to him for writing the foreword before his sad demise. Thanks are due to the authorities of Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow, for providing library facilities, and to Dr. S. Varadarajan, FNA, former President, Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi and Prof. John W. Blunt, Department of Chemistry, University of Canterbury, New Zealand for sending interesting information about marine organisms. Thanks are due to Prof. R.S. Verma, Lucknow University, for his valuable suggestions. We thank the publishing staff members of M/s Anamaya Publishers, especially Mr. M.S. Sejwal, who handled the project and offered splendid cooperation. Finally, one of us (DSB) expresses his sincere thanks to the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi and Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi, for financial support. D.S. BHAKUNI D.S. RAWAT viii Preface