Naturally Occuring Pyrrolo[1,4]benzodiazepines in Bacteria

Pyrrolo[1,4]benzodiazepines (PBDs) are a growing group of microbial secondary metabolites that showed remarkable biological activities particularly against tumor cells. Their antitumor activity is mainly due to their specifically binding to DNA and other polydeoxynucleotides to form irreversibly polymer-bound drugs. Consequently, they have been the target of several syntheses as well as screening of natural sources to discover new members. This review provides an update on recent discoveries of PBDs as well as a compilation of spectroscopic data described in the literature.