Aktywność biologiczna związków acetylenowych pochodzenia naturalnego

The natural acetylenic products containing at least one a carbon-carbon triple bond, are important class of compounds widely distributed in the environment. Development of spectroscopic techniques and methods for the isolation of metabolites allowed the extraction of natural acetylenic compounds. The most of these substances have been obtained from marine organisms, such as: cyanobacteria, algae and sponges. The next source of metabolites are herbal plants, which were used in the Chinese traditional medicine. A many of them show interesting biological activity. The first isolated natural compound possessing an acetylenic unit was dehydromatricaria ester, which was obtained from rhizome European goldenrod (Solidago virgaurea). To present day have been found and researched more than 2000 natural acetylenic metabolites. Due to the chemical structure, natural acetylenic compounds were divided into six groups: peptides, aromatic compounds, enediyne antibiotics, sterols, carotenoids, and poliacetylenic compounds . This article focuses natural acetylenic substances, which exhibit interesting biological properties, particularly anticancer ones. The review presents many of such metabolites, including fatty alcohols, ketones, acids, ethers, and carotenoids.