The results of a single-crystal structure determination when in CIF format can now be validated routinely by automatic procedures. In this way, many errors in published papers can be avoided. The validation software generates a set of ALERTS detailing issues to be addressed by the experimenter, author, referee and publication journal. Validation was pioneered by the IUCr journal Acta Crystallographica Section C and is currently standard procedure for structures submitted for publication in all IUCr journals. The implementation of validation procedures by other journals is in progress. This paper describes the concepts of validation and the classes of checks that are carried out by the program PLATON as part of the IUCr checkCIF facility. PLATON validation can be run at any stage of the structure refinement, independent of the structure determination package used, and is recommended for use as a routine tool during or at least at the completion of every structure determination. Two examples are discussed where proper validation procedures could have avoided the publication of incorrect structures that had serious consequences for the chemistry involved.

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Single-crystal structure validation with the program PLATON

Chemistry and biochemistry of 4-hydroxynonenal, malonaldehyde and related aldehydes.

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2019/NP/C8NP00092A

Marine natural products.

Physiological and ecological constraints play key roles in the evolution of plant growth patterns, especially in relation to defenses against herbivores. Phenotypic and life history theories are unified within the growth-differentiation balance (GDB) framework, forming an integrated system of theories explaining and predicting patterns of plant defense and competitive interactions in ecological and evolutionary time. Plant activity at the cellular level can be classified as growth (cell division and enlargement) of differentiation (chemical and morphological changes leading to cell maturation and specialization). The GDB hypothesis of plant defense is premised upon a physiological trade-off between growth and differentiation processes. The trade-off between growth and defense exists because secondary metabolism and structural reinforcement are physiologically constrained in dividing and enlarging cells, and because they divert resources from the production of new leaf area. Hence the dilemma of plants: Th...

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2830650.pdf

The dilemma of plants: To grow or defend.

Advances in flavonoid research since 1992.

The invention is a group of compounds named halovirs with antiviral activity that are structurally related to compounds isolated from a marine fungus CNL240. Halovirs are comprised of a short, amphipathic helical peptide with an extended lipid moiety on the N-terminal end of the peptide. The halovirs have demonstrated activity against herpes simplex virus, types I and II.

Halovir, an antiviral marine natural product, and derivatives thereof

Cyanosporasides A (Ia) and B (Ib), Chloro- and Cyano-cyclopenta[a]indene Glycosides from the Marine Actinomycete “Salinispora pacifica”.

Chemical investigation of a new species of the deep-water marine sponge Leiodermatium, collected by manned submersible at a depth of 740 feet in Palau, resulted in the isolation of two cytotoxic macrolides, leiodolides A (1) and B (2). The leiodolides represent the first members of a new class of 19-membered ring macrolides, incorporating several unique functional groups including a conjugated oxazole ring, a bromine substituent, and an α-hydroxy-α-methyl carboxylic acid side-chain terminus. The structures of these new metabolites were established by spectroscopic analysis, chemical modification, and degradation. The relative and absolute stereochemistries at most chiral centers were assigned on detailed interpretation of spectroscopic data, coupled with chemical degradation and application of the modified Mosher ester method. Leiodolide A showed significant cytotoxicity (average GI50 = 2.0 μM) in the National Cancer Institute's 60 cell line panel with enhanced activity against HL-60 leukemia and OVCAR-3 ...

William Fenical

Papers

Halovir, an antiviral marine natural product, and derivatives thereof

Cyanosporasides A (Ia) and B (Ib), Chloro- and Cyano-cyclopenta[a]indene Glycosides from the Marine Actinomycete “Salinispora pacifica”.

Cytotoxic Macrolides from a New Species of the Deep-Water Marine Sponge Leiodermatium.

Correction to Screening Natural Products for Inhibitors of Quinone Reductase-2 Using Ultrafiltration LC―MS

4Z- and 4E-12-deoxydihydrokromycins, two naturally occurring kromycin aglycones of pikromycin from Streptomyces sp.