Book Review pubs.acs.org/jnp
Review of Stilbenes: Applications in Chemistry, Life Sciences and Materials Science probes and biosensors to monitor chemical and biological reactions and to visualize specific tissues, pathological aggregates, proteins/antibodies, and biomembranes. Chapter 11 provides a glimpse of advanced ultrafast methods for future investigation of stilbene compounds. Such methods include nanosecond transient absorption, femtosecond broad-band pump−probe, fluorescence upconversion spectroscopy, fluorescent picosecond time-resolved single-photon counting, multiphoton excitation, and others. The book ends with a short chapter of concluding remarks and no references (Chapter 12). This book is presented with clear language in a simple, appealing, and logically organized style. All chapters were written by the author. Each chapter is constructed around a well-defined topic with many schemes, figures, and diagrams to provide a brief background on the topic and to enhance delivery of the presented material. For example, each of the name reactions for total synthesis of stilbenes is preceded by a brief introduction about the origin of the reaction. Also, the history of isolation of natural stilbene for the first time is mentioned and references to original literature are included. Overall, content is supported by an average of 100 references per chapter with 1079 references in total. This book is a valuable contribution due to the growing interest in this class of compounds at many frontiers of science and technology. After more than 6 years since its publication and until an updated edition becomes available, it still offers valuable information. With its coverage of diverse topics, Stilbenes should offer physical, synthetic, analytical, and natural products chemists a comprehensive resource for information and research purposes. Material scientists and physicists will find an exhaustive summary of current and emerging techniques that incorporate stilbenes. Academicians and graduate students interested in stilbene chemistry and physics should also benefit from it as an educational textbook on the subject. It is a good place to learn about this topic up until 2010. Progress since that time has been significant, and a second edition of Stilbenes is thus warranted.
Stilbenes: Applications in Chemistry, Life Sciences and Materials Science. By Gertz Likhtenshtein. Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, Germany. 2009. 360 pp. $224 Hardcover. ISBN 978-3-527-32388-3.
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or the majority of chemists and many scientists, the term “stilbenes” brings to mind one of the major constituents of wine, resveratrol, which has earned a significant share of media coverage. However, this book transcends common perception by offering a broader coverage of this whole class of compounds, not only of resveratrol and other natural stilbenes but also of synthetic and semisynthetic analogues with different properties, potentials, and applications. Since its publication in 2010, it still holds ground as one of the few textbooks on the subject matter. A broad range of topics is concisely, yet comprehensively, covered in 12 chapters constituting the mainframe of this book. In Chapter 1, eight general synthetic routes utilizing classical name reactions are described. Other methods for synthesis of structurally unique stilbenes, such as dendrimeric and cyclodextrin derivatives, are also highlighted. This chapter concludes by describing different methods of analysis of stilbenes, such as GC/MS, LC/MS, X-ray crystallography, IR/Raman spectroscopy, and circular dichroism. Different chemical reactions of stilbenes, in which the main reactive site is the ethylene double bond, are discussed in Chapter 2. These reactions include halogenation, oxidation, reduction, and hydration, in addition to stilbene polymerization and complexation with small and large molecules. The significance and utility of some of these reactions are also included. Chapters 3−6 discuss light-related properties and interactions of stilbenes in some detail. Topics include stilbene photophysics, such as fluorescenece, phosphorescence, absorption spectra, and photoisomerization (Chapters 3 and 4); photochemical reactions, such as light-catalyzed cyclization, dimerization, and reactions with alkenes, amino compounds, and protic solvents (Chapter 5); and various stilbene-based compounds involved in material sciences, such as lasers, electro-optic modulators, electrophotographic materials, radioluminescence scintillators, and light-emitting diodes (Chapter 6). Chapters 7−10 are focused on biological applications of stilbenes and their utilization in drug discovery and characterization of physiological and pathological conditions. This section begins by listing the major biologically active stilbenes present in terrestrial and marine plants and microorganisms with major emphasis on resveratrol and a summary of the activities of combretastatin and pterostilbene (Chapter 7). Further in vitro and preclinical investigation of these three stilbenes in specific tumor cell lines and different animal models of cancer, respectively, is discussed in Chapter 8. Clinical investigation of resveratrol, combretastatin, and a few more stilbenes is the main focus of Chapter 9, which presents results suggesting tissue protective and anti-inflammatory effects of these compounds. The section concludes by emphasizing the use of stilbenes as fluorescent molecular © 2017 American Chemical Society and American Society of Pharmacognosy
Ehab A. Abourashed
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Medical College of Wisconsin School of Pharmacy, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Notes
The author declares no competing financial interest.
Published: February 13, 2017 577
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.7b00089 J. Nat. Prod. 2017, 80, 577−577
