Current and emerging tools and strategies for the identification of bioactive natural products in complex mixtures

Covering: up to 2024

The prompt identification of (bio)active natural products (NPs) from complex mixtures poses a significant challenge due to the presence of numerous compounds with diverse structures and (bio)activities. Thus, this review provides an overview of current and emerging tools and strategies for the identification of (bio)active NPs in complex mixtures. Traditional approaches of bioassay-guided fractionation (BGF), followed by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectrometry (MS) analysis for compound structure elucidation, continue to play an important role in the identification of active NPs. However, recent advances (2018–2024) have led to the development of novel techniques such as (bio)chemometric analysis, dereplication and combined approaches, which allow efficient prioritization for the elucidation of (bio)active compounds. For researchers involved in the search for bioactive NPs and who want to speed up their discoveries while maintaining accurate identifications, this review highlights the strengths and limitations of each technique and provides up-to-date insights into their combined use to achieve the highest level of confidence in the identification of (bio)active natural products from complex matrices.