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Vibrational spectroscopy in the study of natural products chirality

The edition of September of 2015 of the magazine specialized in natural products Natural Product Reports highlights on its cover page the  article: Recent advances in the use of vibrational chiroptical spectroscopic methods for stereochemical characterization of natural products. Result of an extensive bibliographical review led by the researcher of Núcleo de Bioensaios, Biossíntese and Ecofisiologia de Produtos Naturais (NuBBE) and vice-coordinator of CIBFar, Vanderlan Bolzani, the work was selected to illustrate the cover page of the periodic one, that has the highest impact factor (10,1) amongst publications in the area. The art, which reflects the asymmetrical beauty of nature which has its molecular structure unmasked by sophisticated biophysical methods, it was developed by the authors of the work.

The article deals with the structural elucidation of molecules produced by natural sources through methods that, using the interaction between light and matter (spectroscopy). These methods  are capable to unveil  the conformation and the configuration of these compounds. The knowledge of these aspects is of fundamental importance for understanding the biosynthesis, function and biological activities of these substances.

For this purpose, the authors conducted a bibliogrartigo vanderlanaphical review of the publications of the last 15 years, with special focus on the combined use of  techniques of vibrational spectroscopy and computacional methods in quantum mechanics. The publication is sufficiently complete and describes the application of these methodologies in the study of important species of natural products, as terpenes, coumarins, alkaloids, flavonoids, carbohydrates and peptides. In view of the large number of dedicated researchers to the study of natural products, the  article draw attention to the importance of the approaches described for characterizing the configuration of this class of compounds, that constitutes an important source of inspiration for the development of a variety of products,  as for example medicines.

Scientific article: Batista JR, J. M.; Blanch, E. W.; Da Silva Bolzani, V. Recent advances in the use of vibrational chiroptical spectroscopic methods for stereochemical characterization of natural products. Natural product reports, v. 32, n. 9, p. 1280-1302, 2015.