Nitrogen heterocycles are essential parts of the chemical machinery of life and often reveal intriguing structures. They are not only widespread in terrestrial habitats but can also frequently be found as natural products in the marine environment. This review highlights the important class of marine pyrrole alkaloids, well-known for their diverse biological activities. A broad overview of the marine pyrrole alkaloids with a focus on their isolation, biological activities, chemical synthesis, and derivatization covering the decade from 2010 to 2020 is provided. With relevant structural subclasses categorized, this review shall provide a clear and timely synopsis of this area.

We describe the synthesis of hyperphosphorylated peptides and the investigation of their in vitro silicification activity in combination with long-chain polyamines (LCPA) at high dilution and mildly acidic conditions.

The first total synthesis of the natural product (13R,14S,15R)-13-hydroxy-14-deoxyoxacyclo­dodecindione, which was isolated in 2018 as a member of the oxacyclo­dodecindione family, is reported. A synthetic strategy through intramolecular Friedel-Crafts acylation combined with the stereoselective synthesis of a new triol key fragment allowed the preparation of the macrolactone. Due to mismatching physical data of the synthetic product, a revision of the configuration of the natural product isolated in 2018 is required. Light-induced E/Z-isomerism of the macrolactone backbone is described for the first time in the class of oxacyclo­dodecindione-type macrolactones. The hydroxylated macrolactone prepared herein was found to show highly promising IC50 values in biological assays addressing the inhibition of inflammatory responses.