RESEARCH ARTICLE

 

Natural products research in South Africa: End of an era on land or the beginning of an endless opportunity in the sea?^{*, **}

 

 

Michael T. Davies-Coleman^***

Department of Chemistry, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, 6140 South Africa

 

 

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ABSTRACT

South African organic chemistry is deeply rooted in a rich history of natural product chemistry research with the secondary metabolites emanating from South Africa's unique floral kingdoms dominating this research for nearly a century. However, South Africa's terrestrial biodiversity is exceeded by an even greater diversity of marine flora and fauna occurring off its coast, which remain a relatively untapped source of novel biomolecules with unrealized pharmaceutical and agrochemical potential. Examples of the seemingly endless opportunities arising from exploration of the diverse bioactivities of South African plant and marine natural products, together with their semi-synthetic analogues, are presented here.

Keywords: Marine natural products, diterpenes

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Received 6 May 2010
Revised 17 May 2010
Accepted 24 May 2010

 

 

^* Adapted from the 11th Frank Warren Lecture, Pietermaritzburg, 19 January 2010.
^** Dedicated to the memory of Douglas Eric Arthur Rivett (27 June 1921 - 25 January, 2010).
^*** To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: m.davies-coleman@ru.ac.za