MEDICINAL CHEMICAL STUDIES OF ANTIINFLAMMATORY AND ANALGESIC NATURAL-PRODUCTS

Following the discovery of salicylates and its conversion to aspirin, natural products research has provided many promising leads for furthe r modification as anti-inflammatory and analgesic agents. Recent studi es have focused on biosynthesis inhibitors of eicosanoids and receptor antagonists of the platelet activating factor, including a new class of dual functional inhibitors derived from neolignans. The highly pote nt analgesic alkaloid epibatidine from the frog skin has been synthesi zed and recharacterized as a very strong acetylcholine nicotinic recep tor agonist. Some novel epibatidine analogs have shown promise as pote ntial CNS drugs and research probes for clarifying the anti-addictive property of the African alkaloid ibogaine.