The current chemical utility of marine and terrestrial filamentous fungi in side-chain chemistry

This review focuses on three aspects of the application of marine and terrestrial filamentous fungi to side-chain chemistry from 2000 to early 2006. The first section covers the generation of novel biologically active side-chain containing metabolites. This includes a range of antibiotic, cytotoxic and novel bioactive compounds. The second section discusses the use of these fungi both whole cell and lipases of fungal origin in the chemical modification of side-chains. Examples include reductive desymmetrization of pro-chiral ketones, dynamic kinetic resolution and unique reactions. The final section details the degradation of side-chains by fungi and includes lignin and steroid transformations for determination metabolism and the generation of new skeletal structure. © 2007 Bentham Science Publishers Ltd.