Chemical diversity, biological activities and biosynthesis of fungal naphthoquinones and their derivatives: A comprehensive update

One of the main hotspots in the global drug discovery endeavour is the microbial natural products not only due to their great structural diversity and complexity, but also their capacity to generate new analogues by changing the culture conditions, thus providing them with a wide array of biological and pharmacological properties. Among microorganisms, fungi are considered one of the most prolific producers of bioactive natural products. Up to now, more than twenty thousand metabolites have been isolated from terrestrial and marine-derived fungi of different genera. Naturally occurring naphthoquinones and naphthalenones are a large group of secondary metabolites obtained from several sources including higher plants, fungi, and some bacteria, which showed a wide range of biological and pharmacological activities as well as biotechnological potentials. The present review discusses the chemical characteristics and biological/pharmacological activities of fungal naphthoquinones and naphthalenones reported over the period from 2000 to 2021, highlighting 153 naphthoquinones and their derivatives from twenty-six different fungal genera. Additionally, insights into their biogenesis are briefly discussed.