Revisiting Old Hits for New Compounds: New Technology Opens Up Access to Previously Unobtainable Compounds

It is difficult to estimate the dollar value of an extract. However, given that recollection may be expensive or impossible, and recollected material may not contain the same compounds as the original, natural products chemists are highly motivated to make the most of an extract. We present here two instances in which the original collection was inadequate, but through an increase in NMR sensitivity resulting from a probe upgrade, full structural assignment was ultimately possible. The first is a stilbenoid from Phragmipedium calurum and the second is a series of bisdesmosidic triterpenes from Combretum inflatum. Both instances illustrate that new advances in technology can revive old research projects by facilitating the identification of compounds that were previously too minor.