Book review Natural product chemistry. A mechanistic, biosynthetic and ecological approach Kurt B. G. Torssell, Apotekarsocieteten, Stockholm, 1997, 2nd edn, 480 pp. ISBN 91 8627 463 5 This is a new edition of a book first published in 1983. The book aims to provide a mechanistic, biosynthetic and ecological approach to natural product chemistry. In selecting additional material for this new edition the author has concentrated on chemical ecology and on oxidative mechanisms in biological chemistry.Following an introduction on the principal reactions and pathways of biosynthesis, there is a chapter on chemical ecology. There are then chapters on carbohydrates, the shikimic acid pathway, the polyketides, the terpenoids, amino acids, peptides and proteins, the alkaloids and finally N-heteroaromatics such as the pyrimidines and purines, pyrroles and porphyrins. At the end of each chapter there are some problems and some literature references. The introductory chapter contains a general list of natural product books and some journals.In writing a book of this kind the problem is to be selective and yet maintain an even balance between the diVerent facets of the subject. This is particularly diYcult for a single author covering such a wide area. This book concentrates on presenting the biosynthetic and mechanistic rationale for natural product structures. Although some biosynthetic experimental evidence is described, the distinction between this and plausible biogenetic speculation is not always made.Although the title of the book is ‘Natural product chemistry’, the concentration on biosynthesis leads to the exclusion of a great deal of chemistry. The partial synthesis of biologically active natural products from more readily available natural substances is a major area of current natural product chemistry. This has revealed many aspects of conformational analysis and of unusual reactivity arising from a unique juxtaposition of functional groups found in a natural product.The chemistry of the terpenoids and steroids has a great deal to teach in this context. The synthetic work on the steroid hormones and their biological function receives barely a mention. Although the author has made some eVort to include material other than biosynthesis, it is not presented in a particularly systematic way. For example, there is a jump from three pages on the carotenoids immediately to five pages on optical rotatory dispersion.In this context it would have been much better to bring all the methods of structural elucidation together into one chapter. The elucidation of natural product structures is another area of current natural product chemistry which receives relatively little attention in this book. There are a number of mistakes. Some are relatively trivial such as the formula of cadinene (p. 49) but others are more serious such as the biosynthesis of the gibberellins (Fig. 22). In presenting biosynthetic schemes the letter P is used loosely for both phosphate and pyrophosphate whilst many arrows denoting electron movement do not clearly indicate which centres and which bonds are involved (e.g. structure 15, p. 92). There is a tendency to coalesce the mechanistic rationalization for several steps into one structure and this can be confusing to the student. Despite these criticisms, this book contains a wealth of information across a broad range of natural product biosyntheses. It is an interesting book providing background reading for a chemist starting natural product research or giving background material for a lecture course on natural product biosynthesis. James R. Hanson University of Sussex, Brighton, UK 111