Natural Product Chemistry

The First International Symposium and Pakistan-U.S. Binational Workshop on Natural Product Chemistry represents the first international conference ever to be organised in Pakistan on chemistry. For many years I had aspired to organise such a con ference, and finally when it materialised in February 1984, it brought together the very best in the field. The result was as expected - a most stimulating series of lectures and discussions, all of which were recorded on videotape for circulation to uni versities and research organisations in Pakistan. The fields covered during the Symposium include such diverse areas as plant chemistry, marine natural products, insect hormones, glycopro teins and peptides, synthetic methodology and spectroscopy. I am confident that the papers published here would prove invalu able to the natural product chemists and biochemists working in the fascinating area of natural products. I wish to record here my indebtedness to Professor Philip W. Le Quesne and Professor Wolfgang Voelter for their untiring efforts in organising the visits of the U.S. and German scien tists. I am grateful to the National Science Foundation (USA), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, U.N.E.S.C.O., Hamdard National Foundation, Pakistan Science Foundation, University Grants Commission, Ministry of Science and Technology, British Council, B.A.S.F. and E. Merck for providing financial support for the conference. But above all, the conference owes its success to the students and staff of the Institute who worked so very hard.

Contenu
Chemical Constituents of Some Medicinal Plants of Pakistan.- Hypocholesterolemic Effect of Allium sativum Linn. and its Potential Protective Action Against Coronary Heart Disease A Model for Research on Drugs of Traditional Medicine.- Synthesis, Structure Activity Relationships and Mode of Action of Insect Pheromones A Contribution for the Transmission of Chemical Information in Nature.- New Constituents from Compositae.- X-ray Diffraction and Marine Natural Products.- Biosynthesis of Riboflavin.- Conversion of Anhydrovinblastine into Vinblastine in Catharanthus roseus Tissue Culture.- Chemistry of Pakistani Artemisias.- Biogenetic Aspects of Sesquiterpene Lactone Chemistry.- Synthetic Study of Natural Products Via Three-Membered Heterocycles.- Studies in the Alkaloids of Rauwolfia caffra Sonder.- The Oxidative Metabolism of the Aromatic A-Ring of Steroidal Estrogens.- Pyranoid Chiral Building Blocks: Preparation from Monosaccharides and Utilization for Natural Product Synthesis.- Gastrin and Cholecystokinin An Arduous Task for the Peptide Chemist.- Glycoprotein Structure Function Relationship: Study of Epithelial Cell Secretion.- Cyclization Approaches to the Synthesis of Natural Products.- Chemical Defense and Self-Defense in Termites.- Some Recent Isolation Structural and Synthetic Studies on the Constituents of Indigenous Medicinal Plants.- A Chemical Power of Movement in Higher Plants.- Natural Product Synthesis Via Functionally Substituted Vinyl Carbanions.- The Alkaloids of Zizyphus sativa.- Some Contributions to Researches on Medicinal Plants in a Historical Context.- Advanced Techniques in Mass Spectrometry.- New Reagents and Methods for the Synthesis of Peptides, ?-Lactams and Oligonucleotides A Progress Report.- Hypothalamic Hormones, Aspects of Structure,Synthesis and Biological Activity.- Structural Studies on Unusual Peptides.- Primary Structure of Hemoglobin from Reptile Uromastix hardwickii and its Status in Molecular Evolution.