What do we mean by “follow-up”? Let us assume that the natural product just isolated is of some interest, that is to say, it may have some biological activity worthy of further examination, it may represent a novel structure, or it may be of interest for ecological or chemotaxonomic reasons. In each case, we may want more of the compound, or analogs, biosynthetic precursors, and other related metabolites. If the compound is biologically active, we may look to these related compounds to provide structure-activity relationship data, for compounds that are more active, more chemically or metabolically stable, or in commercial terms will strengthen the patent position of the original compound by describing the wider family of metabolites.
