Guest Editor Special Issue "Secondary Metabolites from Marine Molluscs: Chemistry, Biosynthesis, Synthesis and Bioactivity"

The phylum Mollusca embraces a high diversity of species, which turned out to be of great interest to natural products chemists. Chemical studies unveiled a variety of unique scaffolds inspiring leading drugs currently in clinical trials. Thus, extending investigation on unexplored species is expected to reveal novel molecular architectures. Beyond the chemistry and pharmacological potential of molluscan metabolites, their crucial role in regulating chemo-ecological interactions has also been addressed. The majority of these molecules are obtained from food sources, but they can be biosynthesized de novo, or derived from symbiotic microorganisms. This Special Issue is open to contributions covering all aspects of chemistry, chemical ecology and pharmacological potential of secondary metabolites from molluscs; papers are welcome reporting on: i) the discovery of novel bioactive compounds and their molecular targets; ii) the origin and the biosynthetic pathways by which these metabolites are produced; iii) their chemo-ecological role; iv) the synthetic strategies designed to overcome the supply issue for the metabolites themselves and to provide derivatives with improved potency.