PEPTIDE SIDEROPHORES

Siderophores are low molecular weight iron chelators, produced by virt ually all bacteria, fungi and some plants. They serve to deliver the e ssential element iron, barely soluble under aerobic conditions, Into m icrobial cells. Siderophores are therefore important secondary metabol ites which are very often based on amino acids and their derivatives. Biosynthesis, transport, regulation and chemical synthesis of natural siderophores and their analogues is of considerable interest for the p rotein and peptide chemist. This review gives an overview of the struc tural classes of peptidic siderophores, along with data on their biosy nthesis. On a number of representative examples, strategies and scheme s of their chemical synthesis are described. (C) 1998 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.