天然药物化学史话:天然产物的生物合成

Historical story on natural medicinal chemistry: Biosynthesis of natural products

天然产物因其独特的化学结构,往往具有特定靶点、专一性结合的能力而表现出良好的生物活性,因而一直是生物活性前体化合物和新药发现的重要源泉。植物体通过一次代谢过程和二次代谢过程,仅用简单的原料二氧化碳和水,在酶的作用下就合成了结构千差万别的各类型天然产物。其中一些结构特异、生物活性较强的化合物也成了有机合成化学家们竞相研究的热点。阐明天然产物的生物合成途径,不仅有助于天然产物人工合成的设计和结构推导;同时,生物合成的原理、反应类型及反应机制也为有机合成研究领域提供了灵感,开拓了思路,催生了许多新颖的合成方法;以天然产物化学和分子生物学的发展和融合为基础的化学生物学和合成生物学的诞生将催生下一次生物技术革命。

Natural products are the main resource of leading compounds and new drugs because of their unique chemical structures and strong bioactivities. Through the primary and secondary metabolic processes, the plants synthesize various types of natural products only using carbon dioxide, water, and enzymes. Some of these structure-specific bioactive compounds have become the hot spots for organic synthetic chemists. To figure out the biosynthesis pathway of natural products is helpful for the artificial synthesis and structure elucidation of natural products; Meanwhile, the principle of biosynthesis, reaction classification, and reaction mechanism also provide inspiration for the research field of organic synthesis. Chemical biology and synthetic biology based on the development and integration of natural product chemistry and molecular biology also promot the birth of new disciplines.