Synthetic Derivatives from Marine Natural Products as Potential Antimicrobial Drugs

The marine environment havens a massive number of species that are the source of a wide range of structurally diverse bioactive secondary metabolites. The importance of marine natural products (MNPs) in drug discovery has been documented extensively with their impact on the development of existing drugs. Despite the promising activity of MNPs, most of them suffer from their complex structures, instability, and poor solubility. The synthetic derivatives of natural products cover the chemical derivatization of scaffolds isolated from marine sources and are highly applicable as chemical biosynthesis and structural modifications provide new insights into the bioactivities and the dealings against specific targets that are important for exploring the indefinite chemical space. Also, engineering of the biosynthetic pathway has shown its ability to drive analogies arising from a variety of alterations, including replacement of residues, feeding with non-natural precursors, and enzyme knockout. Such arrays of synthetic compounds execute functionally distinct biological activities against various microbial pathogens, considering MNPs valuable products in the current era of drug discovery. This chapter describes the strategies and principles for the development of synthetic drugs, as divulged by several fruitful medicines that are derived from marine origin.