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Covering: 1970s to July 2003 The Islands of Palau have proven to be an excellent source of bioactive marine natural products primarily as a result of the systematic studies from the late 1970s by the research groups of Scheuer at the University of Hawaii, Faulkner at the Scripps Oceanographic Institution/University of California at San Diego, and Paul at the University of Guam. Their efforts were materially aided by the excellent facilities provided by the Government of Palau and for the last 10 years, those of the NCI's shallow water collection contractor, the Coral Reef Research Foundation. This review covers the structures and biological activities where noted, of the multitudinous marine-derived natural products isolated from the marine flora and fauna of this nation and demonstrates the enormous variety of novel structures elaborated by these organisms.

This review covers the marine natural products literature for the year 2000 and is organized phylogenetically, with sections on marine microorganisms and phytoplankton, green algae, brown algae, red algae, sponges, coelenterates, bryozoans, molluscs, tunicates, echinoderms and miscellaneous marine organisms. There is an emphasis on new structures, stressing their biological activities, source organisms and countries of origin, and also syntheses that confirm the structures of known compounds. The review contains 869 structures and 592 references, of which 434 appeared between January and December 2000. Covering: 2000. Previous review: 2001, 18, 1.