A personal selection of 32 recent papers is presented covering various aspects of current developments in bioorganic chemistry and novel natural products such as furanmonogone A from Hypericum monogynum.The structure of lecanicillolide 1, a metabolite of Lecanicillium sp. PR-M-3, was established by X-ray analysis. 1 A biosynthetic pathway to lecanicillolide 1, involving two polyketide chains, has been proposed. The structure of phomone B 2, a racemic metabolite of Phoma sp. YN02-P-3, was also established by X-ray analysis. 2 Phomone B 2 is a dimer of the co-metabolite rosellin 3. Monascustin 4 has been isolated from Monascus purpureus fermented rice. 3 It has been proposed that monascustin 4 is formed from lysine and acetoacetate precursors. Dahurelmusin A 5, from Elymus dahuricus infected by Epichloë bromicola, is also a hybrid peptidepolyketide. 4 The structures of monascustin 4 and dahurelmusin A 5 were confirmed by X-ray analyses.