Issue 5, 2006 of Natural Product Reports is a themed issue focusing on natural products chemistry in China.

Natural remedies have been used by generations of Chinese people to treat a wide range of diseases.  As such, the study of natural products is now a huge area of research in China.  This issue of NPR, which is guest edited by Professor Ren Xiang Tan (Nanjing University, Nanjing), brings together a collection of seven articles from top Chinese scientists working in this rich and diverse field.


NPR issue 5 front cover


The issue covers a range of natural products: Diterpenoids from Isodon species by  Han-Dong Sun (Kunming Institute of Botany, Kunming); phytochemicals characterized from species in the Asteraceae family by Zhong-Jian Jia and Yan-Ping  Shi (Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Lanzhou); steroidal alkaloids from plants belonging to the Liliaceae family by Ping Li (China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing).

The chemistry and biology of endophytes, which are ubiquitous inside the healthy tissues of naturally growing plants, is reviewed by Ren Xiang Tan, while Dawei Ma (Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Shanghai) summarises recent progress in the total synthesis of natural products in China.

The development and application of plant tissue culture protocols for plant-derived medicines is discussed by Jianwong Wu (Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong) and Zixin Deng (Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai) discuss antibiotic biosynthetic pathways and pathway engineering.