COMPUTER-ASSISTED PERCEPTION OF SIMILARITY USING THE CHIRON PROGRAM - A POWERFUL TOOL FOR THE ANALYSIS AND PREDICTION OF BIOGENETIC PATTERNS

The stereochemical and functional patterns in a family of complex natural products derived from a common biosynthetic pathway can be easily visualized through the generation of Fischer and extended projections using the Chiron computer program. Application of this protocol to a series of polyether antibiotics reveals interesting trends in their patterns of substitution as well as in stereochemical relationships.