1 Carbohydrates.- 1.1 Introduction.- 1.2 Recent developments in O-glycosidation methodology.- 1.3 Recent developments in C-glycoside synthesis.- 1.4 Synthesis of antibiotic sugars.- 1.5 Use of carbohydrates as chiral templates and reagents for asymmetric synthesis.- 1.5.1 Asymmetric reduction.- 1.5.2 Enantioselective alkylation of carbohydrate derived nucleophiles.- 1.5.3 Enantioselective alkylation of carbohydrate derived electrophiles.- 1.5.4 Monosaccharides as chiral auxiliaries for cycloaddition reactions.- 1.6 Use of carbohydrates as chiral starting materials for the synthesis of enantiomerically pure natural products.- References.- 2 Aromatic compounds.- 2.1 Introduction.- 2.2 Benzenoids.- 2.3 Coumarins.- 2.4 Isocoumarins, chromanones, chromones and cannabinoids.- 2.5 Macrocyclic lactones.- 2.6 Pyrones, butenolides, lignans and benzofurans.- 2.7 Terphenyls.- 2.8 Flavonoids.- 2.9 Xanthones and benzophenones.- 2.10 Naphthalenes and naphthoquinones.- 2.11 Anthraquinones.- 2.12 Anthracyclines.- 2.13 Some other polycyclic antibiotics.- 2.14 Ansamycins.- References.- 3 Terpenoids.- 3.1 Introduction.- 3.2 Monoterpenoids.- 3.3 Sesquiterpenoids.- 3.4 Diterpenoids.- 3.5 Sesterterpenoids.- 3.6 Triterpenoids.- 3.7 Carotenoids.- References.- 4 Steroids.- 4.1 Introduction.- 4.2 Molecular rearrangement.- 4.3 Remote functionalisation.- 4.4 Photochemical reactions.- 4.5 Partial synthesis.- 4.5.1 Oestranes.- 4.5.2 Androstanes.- 4.5.3 Pregnanes.- 4.5.4 Cholanes.- 4.5.5 Cardenolides and bufadienolides.- 4.5.6 Vitamins D.- 4.5.7 Cholestanes and derivatives.- References.- 5 Amino acids, peptides and proteins.- 5.1 Introduction.- 5.2 Amino acids.- 5.2.1 Synthesis.- 5.2.2 New naturally occurring amino acids.- 5.3 Peptides.- 5.3.1 Synthesis.- 5.3.2 Synthesis of glycopeptides.- 5.3.3 Synthesis of phosphorylated peptides.- 5.3.4 Post-translational modifications.- 5.3.5 Design of peptide-based pharmaceuticals.- 5.3.6 New peptides from natural sources.- 5.4 Techniques for structural elucidation.- 5.4.1 X-ray crystallography.- 5.4.2 N.m.r. spectroscopy.- 5.4.3 Molecular modelling.- 5.5 Proteins.- 5.5.1 Incorporation of unnatural amino acids.- 5.5.2 Purification and analysis.- 5.5.3 Sequences, databases and protein folding.- 5.6 Appendix.- 5.6.1 Useful books.- 5.6.2 Databases.- References.- 6 Alkaloids.- 6.1 Introduction.- 6.2 Biomimetic studies.- 6.2.1 Biomimetic synthesis of Iboga and Aspidosperma alkaloids.- 6.2.2 Biomimetic routes to Daphniphyllum alkaloids.- 6.3 Synthesis.- 6.3.1 Reserpine.- 6.3.2 Other yohimbine and heteroyohimbine alkaloids.- 6.4 Marine alkaloids.- 6.4.1 The manzamines.- 6.4.2 Biosynthetic origin of manzamines.- 6.4.3 Total synthesis of manzamine C.- 6.4.4 Synthetic approaches to manzamine A.- References.- 7 Nucleosides, nucleotides and nucleic acids.- 7.1 Introduction.- 7.2 Nucleosides.- 7.2.1 Nucleoside synthesis: general methods.- 7.2.2 Nucleosides containing modified sugars.- 7.2.3 Other nucleosides of interest.- 7.2.4 Some useful and novel reactions.- 7.3 Nucleotides.- 7.3.1 Nucleoside monophosphates and their analogues.- 7.3.2 Cyclic nucleotides.- 7.3.3 Nucleoside polyphosphates and their analogues.- 7.4 Nucleic acids.- 7.4.1 Oligodeoxyribonucleotide synthesis.- 7.4.2 Oligoribonucleotide synthesis.- 7.4.3 Oligonucleotides containing modified internucleotidic links.- 7.4.4 Nucleic acid sequencing.- 7.5 Supplementary reading.- References.- 8 Porphyrins.- 8.1 General introduction.- 8.2 Macrocycle biosynthesis.- 8.2.1 Introduction.- 8.2.2 Substitution pattern of uroporphyrinogen III.- 8.2.3 Biosynthesis of vitamin B12.- 8.3 Haemoprotein model compounds.- 8.3.1 Introduction.- 8.3.2 Supramolecular effects in haemoprotein model compounds.- 8.3.3 Cytochrome P-450 models.- 8.4 Porphyrins with easily oxidisable substituents.- 8.4.1 Introduction.- 8.4.2 Mesotetrakis (3,5-di-t-butyl-4-hydroxyphenyl)porphyrin.- 8.4.3 Mesotetrakis (pyrogallyl) porphyrin.- 8.5 Utilisation of porphyrin excited states.- 8.5.1 Introduction.- 8.5.2 Modelling photosynthesis.- 8.5.3 Solar energy conversion.- 8.6 Porphyrins in photodynamic therapy.- 8.6.1 Introduction.- 8.6.2 Haematoporphyrin derivative, HpD.- 8.6.3 Second generation porphyrins.- 8.6.4 New approaches to photosensitiser delivery.- 8.6.5 Mechanism of photodynamic action.- 8.6.6 Photosensitising porphyrins as herbicides.- 8.7 DNA-porphyrin interactions.- 8.7.1 Introduction.- 8.7.2 DNA cleavage.- 8.7.3 DNA binding.- 8.8 Porphyrins as novel materials.- 8.8.1 Introduction: solid state and liquid crystalline phenomena.- 8.8.2 Porphyrins in molecular electronics.- 8.9 Porphyrins with liquid crystalline properties.- 8.9.1 Introduction.- 8.9.2 Porphyrins with discotic phases.- References.- 9 Aliphatic compounds.- 9.1 Introduction.- 9.2 Semiochemicals.- 9.2.1 Lepidopteran pheromones.- 9.2.2 Methyl substituted aliphatic pheromones.- 9.2.3 Unbridged spiroketals.- 9.3 Development of synthetic technology.- 9.3.1 Bridged spiroketal semiochemicals of bark beetles.- 9.3.2 Organosulphur semiochemicals.- 9.4 Marine natural products.- 9.4.1 Palytoxin.- 9.4.2 Okadaic acid, dinophysistoxins and acanthifolicin.- 9.4.3 Fused ring polyethers.- 9.5 Enyne-allene and enediyne antibiotics.- 9.5.1 Neocarzinostatin.- 9.5.2 Trisulphide triggered enediyne antibiotics: the esperamicins and calicheamicins.- 9.5.3 Dynemicins.- References.- Chemical abbreviations and acronyms.