Xiao-tian Liang & Wei-shuo Fang 
Medicinal Chemistry of Bioactive Natural Products 

Current discoveries and research into bioactive natural
products

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

About the author

XIAO-TIAN LIANG received his BS degree from the National
Central University (China) in 1946 and his Ph D degree from the
University of Washington at Seattle (USA) in 1951. After
postdoctoral work at Harvard University, he joined the faculty of
the Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical
Sciences. In 1980, he was elected as an Academician of Academia
Sinica (Chinese Academy of Sciences) and has served on the advisory
editorial boards of Tetrahedron and Tetrahedron Letters, among
other scientific journals. He coauthored more than 300 scientific
papers and reviews, and has written or edited more than ten books.

WEI-SHUO FANG graduated from Beijing Medical University,
and obtained his Ph D degree from Peking Union Medical College
(PUMC) in 1997. After postdoctoral training in the US, he joined
the faculty of the Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of
Medical Sciences & PUMC. He has conducted visiting study in the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and coauthored more than
thirty articles in peer-reviewed journals.