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This review covers natural products (secondary metabolites) with reported growth inhibitory activity towards Mycobacterium tuberculosis or related organisms. Such compounds have been isolated from a variety of sources including terrestrial and marine plants and animals, and microorganisms, with the express intent of identifying novel scaffolds for the development of new antituberculosis agents. The literature from January 2003 to December 2005 (inclusive) is reviewed and 146 references to 353 compounds are cited. The compounds are presented in order of chemical type, namely lipids/fatty acids and simple aromatics, phenolics and quinones, peptides, alkaloids, terpenes (monoterpenoids, diterpenes, sesquiterpenes and triterpenes), steroids and miscellaneous structures.

This review covers the literature published in 2005 for marine natural products, with 704 citations (493 for the period January to December 2005) referring to compounds isolated from marine microorganisms and phytoplankton, green algae, brown algae, red algae, sponges, coelenterates, bryozoans, molluscs, tunicates and echinoderms. The emphasis is on new compounds (812 for 2005), together with their relevant biological activities, source organisms and country of origin. Biosynthetic studies, first syntheses, and syntheses that lead to the revision of structures or stereochemistries, have been included.

Bioassay-directed fractionation of extracts of a Synoicum n. sp. ascidian from New Zealand led to the isolation of the principal anti-inflammatory component, which was identified by spectroscopic methods as a new member of the rubrolide family, rubrolide O (1), existing as a mixture of E/Z isomers.