Macrolactin Antibiotics: Amazing Natural Products

The resistance among various microbial species (infectious agents) to different antimicrobial drugs has emerged as a cause of serious public health problem all over the world. In this sense, natural products have been a rich source of compounds for drug discovery with antibiotic activity. Macrolactins are amazing structures which have antibiotic activity against some clinically relevant pathogens. In addition, they have anti-inflammatory, antifungal, antimicrobial, and antitumor activities. They are macrolides containing 24-membered lactone ring with some differences in their chemical structures. The synthesis of these compounds is a difficult task which has attracted attention of researchers; however few syntheses have been reported. In this review, the isolation of all reported macrolactins, their syntheses and biological activities are revisited.