Book Reviews Anticancer Drugs from Animals Plants and Microorganisms By George R. Pettit Fiona H. Pierson and Cherry L. Herald Wiley Interscience New York 1994 ix+670 pp. Price f78 ISBN 0471036579 Between 1960 and 1982 the National Cancer Institute in the USA screened around 114000 plant extracts and a similar number of microbial extracts for anticancer activity. Since this initial programme ended a new programme has evaluated many extracts from plants microorganisms and even animals for not only anticancer activity but also anti-HIV activity. Yet it is estimated that only 15-20 YOof terrestrial plants have been properly studied and since the Earth’s total biodiversity may run to 500 million species there is clearly much yet to be done. Recent successes including the growing use of TaxoP for the treatment of ovarian cancer and refractory breast cancer and the ongoing phase I1 clinical trials with the marine natural product bryostatin I reemphasize that many of the best anticancer drugs are of natural origin.George Pettit has of course made enormous contributions in this area not least with the structure elucidation and synthetic studies of the bryostatins and dolastatins and he is well-placed to produce the present immensely informative book. His earlier books Biosynthetic Products for Cancer Chemotherapy were invaluable and this book continues the literature coverage from January 1986 to January 1989. The long gestation period is a little puzzling though there were a large number of structures and other data to check.~_________ ~_____ ~ ~ ~~ The book commences with a very brief account of the cost of cancer to the economy and then reminds the reader of the growing threats to health posed by HIV and a number of other viruses like ebola virus and by tumour promoters/carcinogens both natural and man-made. But the main service provided by the book comprises the long lists of antineoplastic agents and anti-proliferative agents that have been identified during the period under review. There are three large sections products from terrestrial plants fungi and animals together with those from marine algae and invertebrates; products from marine animals; and products from marine plants. Each entry includes a chemical structure (with full stereochemistry where known) common name organism and source some physical data and leading references to spectral and other data.The book concludes with various indices subject molecular weights and the references. The book is not cheap but is the essential source book of information about recently discovered anticancer agents. It is also an invaluable guide to those synthetic targets which might just attract research funding. John Mann University of Reading UK Advances in Nitrogen Heterocycles ed. C. J. Moody JAI Press Inc. Greenwich Connecticut Volume 1 1995. xi +257 pp. Price f62.50 ISBN 0-89232-864-9 And so another new series is unleashed on the confraternity of organic chemists already groaning under the pressure of the information explosion.The volume under review has as its focus the synthesis and transformations of pyrroles and some of their benzo-fused derivatives an indisputably important group of nitrogen heterocycles in natural products and medicinal chemistry. Coverage ranges from pyrroles and indoles to porphyrins carbazoles and carbolines. The seven chapters deal with a selection of versatile synthetic methods for constructing and modifying the ring systems of interest. In general not only are basic methodological studies described but ample illustrations from the total synthesis of natural products are also provided. For example the short opening chapter on intermolecular and intramolecular reactions of metal-stabilized carbenoids with pyrroles (Davies) is bolstered with examples showing asym- metric entries to indolizidine and tropane alkaloids.Following this is a substantial contribution by Lash on the synthesis of porphyrins with exocyclic rings often present as geological marker pigments in organic-rich sedimentary deposits. This wide-ranging review includes both the synthesis of [b]-and [c]- cycloalkenopyrrole building blocks and a microcosmic survey of methods for coupling pyrrole systems. The next four chapters interrelated by their subject matter deal with palladium-catalysed coupling reactions of indoles (Martin and Zheng) cycloaddition reactions of indole derivatives (Pindur) transition metal-mediated synthesis of carbazole derivatives (Knoelker) and synthesis of [b]-annellated indoles by thermal electrocyclic reactions (Hibino and Sugino).Pharmacologically active natural products whose syntheses are illustrated wholly or in part include ergot and iboga alkaloids protein kinase C inhibitors (e.g.rebeccamycin staurosporine) the marine alkaloid hyellazole and quinonoid fungal metabolites such as the murrayaquinones and kinamycins. Overlap of material in these chapters is minimal no doubt a reflection of perceptive editorial work by Professor Moody. I noticed however a threefold appearance of the electrocyclic reactions of 2,3-divinylindoles (pp. 156 184 207). The final chapter contains a personal and pithy account of Boger’s imaginative total synthesis of the exceptionally potent antitumour antibiotic (+)-duocarmycin SA and its (-)-enantiomer.All the contributions to this book are interesting and all have been well written. Nevertheless I cannot help questioning whether this latest addition to the expanding JAI series in chemistry is really justified. Granted this volume like all those in the JAI series is intended to give leading exponents an opportunity to survey a topical area while at the same time providing them with a showcase for highlighting their own contributions. Granted specialists will appreciate the con-venience of having reviews by leading workers (not to mention the handy collection of references contained therein) in a single volume. However I believe that much of the material in this volume would have been equally at home in say Advances in Heterocyclic Chemistry or in review journals.Furthermore the personal perspective in the articles is not so obtrusive as to make them unpublishable elsewhere for example in Synlett which encourages reviews enlivened by personal viewpoints. Most seriously I believe that the essential features of some of these reviews have in fact been published elsewhere already. 73 Perhaps I am being both churlish and conservative in challenging the decision to launch a new series devoted entirely to nitrogen heterocycles no matter how consequential that broad class of compounds may be. As for the first volume is it timely? Yes. Is it useful? Indubitably. But is it necessary..,? The typesetting of the book is good and virtually error-free and the diagrams are neat clear and accurate.The index is adequate -about as detailed as one expects in a work of this NATURAL PRODUCT REPORTS 1996 type and about as capricious. Nonetheless I do not believe that the volume represents good value for money. If nothing else the rather coarse paper with its ominous yellow tinge fails to match the expectations engendered by the volume’s iniquitous price. Joseph P. Michael University of the Witwatersrand South Africa Oxidative Stress and Antioxidant Defenses in Biology ed S. Ahmad Chapman & Hall New York 1995,xxi+457 pp. Price f69,ISBN 0-412-03971-0 Molecular oxygen is essential to many metabolic processes of all aerobic life forms. This dependence on oxygen paradoxically has resulted in a universal toxicity of oxygen to all aerobic life processes.One electron reduction of oxygen generates the superoxide anion free radical which can undergo further reduction to the hydroxyl radical. The production of these and related species and their harmful reactions with biological macromolecules are discussed in two chapters by Cadenas and by Chen et al. These reactive oxygen species can react with unsaturated groups in membrane lipids to form unstable hydroperoxides which can break down and produce further free radicals. This oxidative stress on low density lipoprotein which can lead to atheroschlerosis is reviewed by Kalyanaraman whereas Stohs concentrates on the oxidative stress caused by environmental contaminants including drugs and pesticides. Berenbaum summarizes what little is known about the metabolic detoxification of prooxidants.The oc- currence of a number of natural products such as vitamins C and E and /?-carotene which act as antioxidants is addressed by Larson. The antioxidant defences displayed by enzymes and proteins are broadly discussed by Ahmad then Cunningham and Ahern detail how these defences operate in prokaryotes Dalton extends this treatment to plants and fungi and Felton completes this set of chapters by considering vertebrates and invertebrates. Finally Ahern and Cunningham outline work carried out on the genetic regulation of antioxidant defences based on studies with bacteria. There is much of interest in these 11 chapters and the book is well produced with a subject index although there is some unevenness in the style and quality of the chemical structural drawings. A number of the authors appear to be uncomfortable with chemical structures and this is evident in a number of errors on pages 101 (impossible resonance stabilized picture) 194 (five-bonded carbon) 197 199 and 380 [mysterious -C(OH)=O-group (three times)]. Nevertheless this is an up to date account of an important area of ongoing research which requires further input from many different disciplines. David J. Robins University of Glasgow UK