Natural products from seaweeds

Abstract

Marine biota, even though the oceans are covering two thirds of earth's surface, remains an unexplored source of new and exciting chemical structures. Systematic investigations on marine organisms started only forty years ago, but the results have already proven the impact of the significantly diverse conditions and the distinct evolution on their biosynthetic pathways that frequently yield complex molecules with no counterparts in the terrestrial environment. Seaweeds are among the first marine organisms chemically analyzed, with more than 3,600 articles published describing 3,300 secondary metabolites from marine plants and algae, and they still remain an almost endless source of new bioactive compounds. In this chapter, some of the major classes of seaweed metabolites which find applications in the industrial sector, such as carotenoids, phyco-colloids, polyunsaturated fatty acids and sterols, isolated either from aquacultures or wild harvesting, are presented. The ecological roles of a number of metabolites, as well as their potential application on the prevention of biofouling are described. The bioactive metabolites that target the pharmaceutical market, along with the spectrum of biological activities, are classified according to the class of producing seaweeds. The current status and the potential of seaweed metabolites for industrial exploitation is briefly discussed.