3. Why Nature?
3.1. Some Examples of the Potential Role of Natural Products in Nature
While the contributions of natural secondary metabolites
to modern medicine are abundantly clear, why these inherently
biologically active compounds are actually produced
by organisms still remains a topic of some debate. Though initially they were regarded as waste products, further
research has revealed that organisms have evolved over eons
to produce these complex and often toxic chemicals for
purposes of defense, communication, and predation.
Plants, insects, and marine invertebrates utilize natural
products as a means whereby they defend themselves
chemically against predation and consumption (e.g., herbivory).
A fascinating example is provided by the pupae of
the coccinellid beetle, Epilachna borealis, which exert a
chemical defensive mechanism against predators through the
secretion from their glandular hairs of droplets containing a
library of hundreds of large-ring (up to 98 members)
macrocyclic polyamines, with the simplest example having
the generic formula shown (8; Scheme 2).17 The use of three
simple (2-hydroxyethylamino)alkanoic acid precursors in the
building of these libraries provides clear evidence that
combinatorial chemistry was pioneered and widely used in
Nature for the synthesis of biologically active compound
libraries.
Plants and sessile marine organisms (e.g., corals) release
toxic compounds that suppress the growth of neighboring
3. Why Nature?
3.1. Some Examples of the Potential Role of Natural Products in Nature
While the contributions of natural secondary metabolites
to modern medicine are abundantly clear, why these inherently
biologically active compounds are actually produced
by organisms still remains a topic of some debate. Though initially they were regarded as waste products, further
research has revealed that organisms have evolved over eons
to produce these complex and often toxic chemicals for
purposes of defense, communication, and predation.
Plants, insects, and marine invertebrates utilize natural
products as a means whereby they defend themselves
chemically against predation and consumption (e.g., herbivory).
A fascinating example is provided by the pupae of
the coccinellid beetle, Epilachna borealis, which exert a
chemical defensive mechanism against predators through the
secretion from their glandular hairs of droplets containing a
library of hundreds of large-ring (up to 98 members)
macrocyclic polyamines, with the simplest example having
the generic formula shown (8; Scheme 2).17 The use of three
simple (2-hydroxyethylamino)alkanoic acid precursors in the
building of these libraries provides clear evidence that
combinatorial chemistry was pioneered and widely used in
Nature for the synthesis of biologically active compound
libraries.
Plants and sessile marine organisms (e.g., corals) release
toxic compounds that suppress the growth of neighboring
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