Isolation, biological activity, biosynthesis and synthetic studies towards the rubromycin family of natural products

The rubromycins are an ever growing family of natural products isolated from various Actinomycetes over the last 60 years. Exhibiting a highly attractive array of antimicrobial and enzyme activity, this unique family of compounds have attracted significant attention from many synthetic chemists. Investigations into the synthesis of the densely functionalised hexacyclic ring system have revealed many hidden synthetic challenges. This review covers the isolation, the reported biological activity and the detailed synthetic studies towards these complex natural products.