Advancement of Natural Products: Optimization of Instrumentation and Examples of their Application to the Isolation of New Compounds

Abstract

The world of natural products has a long rich history dating back thousands of years and was the origin of medicine as we know it. Advancements in the field of natural products can be seen not only in the isolation of new molecules, but also in the advancement of new tools that are used to elucidate the structure of new compounds, identify lead compounds, as well as monitor the pharmokinetics of bioactive substances. The third chapter in this dissertation introduces a new tool that could be used in the later steps of drug development by being able to rapidly quantify a fluorinated compound in complex mixtures, the fourth chapter includes a comparison of an advanced spheroid bioassay with the traditional 2D assay that can be used to identify appropriate lead compounds, and the fifth chapter reveals techniques for applying natural products to a less discussed target: agricultural fungicides.