The combination of plant cell culture methodology with synthetic chemistry affords an attractive route to the synthesis of complex natural products and related compounds of industrial importance. Plant cell cultures which often provide "unique" enzyme systems can be employed effectively as "reagents" in the biotransformation of synthetic substrates to desired end products. Such conversions are often superior to those utilizing chemical reagents with the result that the overall synthetic route

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... more efficient. Alternatively, the use of plant cell culture derived enzymes in the evaluation of biosynthetic pathways can often afford important information for synthetic design. The overall strategy illustrating such an approach is presented herein with specific examples.