Modern NMR Approaches to the Structure Elucidation of Natural Products

The Ghanian plant Cryptolepis sanguinolenta is the source of a series of fascinating indoloquinoline alkaloids. The most unusual member of this alkaloid series was initially proposed to be a spiro nonacyclic structure, named cryptospirolepine, and was elucidated in 1993 based on the technologies available at that time. There were, however, several annoying attributes to the structure that bothered analysts for the ensuing 22 years. During the two decades that followed the initial work there have been enormous developments in NMR technology. Using new experimental approaches, specifically homodecoupled 1,1- and 1,n-HD-ADEQUATE NMR experiments developed in 2014, the structure of only a 700 μg sample of cryptospirolepine has been revised and is shown on the cover of this volume. The confluence of the NMR technological and methodological advances that allowed the revision of the structure of cryptospirolepine using a submilligram sample seems a fitting example for this book, which is dedicated to the NMR characterization of various classes of natural products. Volume 2 considers data processing and algorithmic based analyses tailored to natural product structure elucidation and reviews the application of NMR to the analysis of a series of different natural product families including marine natural products, terpenes, steroids, alkaloids and carbohydrates. Volume 1 discusses contemporary NMR approaches including optimized and future hardware and experimental approaches to obtain both the highest quality and most appropriate spectral data for analysis. These books, bringing together acknowledged experts, uniquely focus on the combination of experimental approaches and modern hardware and software applied to the structure elucidation of natural products. The volumes will be an essential resource for NMR spectroscopists, natural product chemists and industrial researchers working on natural product analysis or the characterization of impurities and degradation products of pharmaceuticals that can be as scarce as natural product samples.