Cyclic Lipopeptide Antibiotics

Numerous natural products have been discovered, mainly from microorganisms, algae and plants, that often exhibit interesting and useful biological activities. Of these, cyclic lipopeptide antibiotics form the biggest group and provide several clinically important drugs. Cyclic lipopeptide antibiotics consist of acyl side chains and peptides of various kinds, some including unusual amino acids. These characteristics confer a wide variety of biological activities and structural diversity on cyclic lipopeptide antibiotics. It is also interesting and noteworthy that the structural similarities of cyclic lipopeptides do not always reflect any similarity in their biological activities. The present review describes the chemistry, biological activities and pharmacology of natural cyclic lipopeptides.