Mimicking/Extracting structure and functions of natural products: Synthetic approaches that address unexplored needs in chemical biology

Natural products are often attractive and challenging targets for synthetic chemists, and many have interesting biological activities. However, synthetic chemists need to be more than simply suppliers of compounds to biologists. Therefore, we have been seeking ways to actively apply organic synthetic methods to chemical biology studies of natural products and their activities. In this personal review, I would like to introduce our work on the development of new biologically active compounds inspired by, or extracted from, the structures of natural products, focusing on enhancement of functional activity and specificity and overcoming various drawbacks of the parent natural products. The synthesis and development of natural product analogues that mimic the essential character or activity, or that isolate a particular activity, of the parent molecules is described. Biological experiments to characterize some of the new compounds and establish their modes of action are also described.