In nature, the cellular machinery synthesizes extraordinarily diverse natural substances, modifying them according to the needs and constraints of the environment. The chemistry of natural products enables us not only to discover these numerous structures, but also to analyze their reactivities in order to uncover their properties, which may be chemical, biological or physical in nature. These properties can sometimes provide real clues as to the roles of natural substances in the organism that produces them.
Two examples of the properties of marine metabolites will be discussed during the seminar. The first part is devoted to the properties of natural imidazole and pyrrole molecules and their biosynthetic origin. This is followed by an example of the oxidation of diketopiperazines by molecular oxygen, and the chemiluminescence properties of this well-known marine reaction. Selected examples from marine and terrestrial bioluminescent systems are analyzed and their reactivities compared.
