Summary

We have isolated and structurally identified many new natural products (NPs) from diverse natural sources, primarily marine, primarily gorgonians, sponges, tunicates, echinoderms, and microorganisms (bacteria and fungi).
The identified NPs belong to a wide variety of structural types, not confined to a particular structural skeleton, ranging from polyketides, terpenes, alkaloids, peptides, triterpene saponins, and others. Some illustrative examples are the following:

ALKALOIDS

POLYKETIDES

TERPENOIDS

 PEPTIDES

Many of them are characterized by their high polarity, as we are experts in the isolation of water-soluble NPs.
The relative configuration of the newly isolated compounds was carried out using various strategies, including conformational analysis based on the study of coupling constants (JBCA) or the Murata method, complemented by computational studies at the DFT level; and anisotropic NMR through a collaboration with Dr. Christian Griensnger of the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, Germany. For more information related to this topic, see the research line entitled “APPLICATIONS OF NMR IN STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS“

The absolute configuration is completed by applying the Mosher method (compounds with mainly OH, NH2, or COOH groups), the Marfey method (peptide derivatives), chiroptical methods such as ECD/OR/TD-DFT, and in some cases, total synthesis and/or X-ray diffraction.

We have access to the evaluation of the following activities, among others:

Cytotoxic activity, through collaboration with the pharmaceutical company Pharmamar SA of Madrid and the Medina Foundation in Granada.
Antimicrobial activity, through collaboration with Dr. Garman Bou of the Microbiology Service, Biomedical Research Institute (INIBIC), University Hospital Complex of A Coruña.
Anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective activity, through collaboration with Professor Luis Botana of the "Marine Toxins: Transduction Mechanisms, Therapeutic Uses, and Detection Methods (FARMATOX)" research group at the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) on the Lugo Campus.
Antiviral activity, through collaboration with Dr. Javier Sánchez-Céspedes of the "Viral Diseases and Infections in Immunodeficiency" research group at the Institute of Biomedicine of Seville (IBIS) of the Virgen del Rocío University Hospital (CSIC, University of Seville).
Fungicidal activity, through collaboration with Dr. Oscar A. Lenis-Rojas of the António Xavier Institute of Chemical and Biological Technology (ITQB NOVA) of the New University of Lisbon.