title: The Pictet-Spengler reaction in nature and in organic chemistry.
abstract: Alkaloids are an important class of natural products that are widely distributed in nature and produced by a large variety of organisms. They have a wide spectrum of biological activity and for many years were used in folk medicine. These days, alkaloids also have numerous applications in medicine as therapeutic agents. The importance of these natural products in inspiring drug discovery programs is proven and, therefore, their continued synthesis is of significant interest. The condensation discovered by Pictet and Spengler is the most important method for the synthesis of alkaloid scaffolds. The power of this synthesis method has been convincingly proven in the construction of stereochemicaly and structurally complex alkaloids.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Materia Medica, College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, 866 Yuhangtang Road, Hangzhou, 310058, China. joesto2000@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stöckigt
authors.forename: Andrey P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Antonchick
authors.forename: Fangrui
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Herbert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Waldmann
mesh_terms: D000470:Alkaloids / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001688:Biological Products / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002625:Chemistry, Organic; D055808:Drug Discovery; D006801:Humans; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008968:Molecular Conformation
chemical_list: D000470:Alkaloids; D001688:Biological Products