天然药物化学史话:海洋毒素

Historical story on natural medicinal chemistry:Marine toxins

海洋的特殊生存环境造就了海洋中奇特及庞大的生物种类,其中某些海洋生物会产生结构新颖、生物活性独特且对其他生物产生异常敏锐刺激甚至灭绝作用的次生代谢产物即海洋毒素。从化学角度分析,海洋毒素主要是复杂结构的聚醚类化合物。海洋毒素虽然给人类带来了一定的危险,但是也引起科学家特别的关注,这些海洋毒素不仅可以作为药物的先导化合物,而且可以直接作为生命科学的研究工具。对目前分离得到的一些重要的海洋毒素按照化学结构分类进行了简要总结,为其进一步研发提供一定的参考。

Marine special living environment creates large and strange species in the ocean.The marine toxins of the secondary metabolites produced by some marine creatures with novel structures and special biological activities have extremely sensitive or exterminating effect on other living things.From the chemical point of view,marine toxins are mainly polyether compounds with complex structures.Although marine toxins may bring certain danger to humans,they have attracted the special attention of scientists.Marine toxins can be used not only as lead compounds for drug discovery,but also as research tools in life science.In this paper,some important marine toxins isolated so far are briefly summarized according to their chemical structures,which provided some reference for further research and development.