Application of Mosher's method for absolute configuration assignment to bioactive plants and fungi metabolites

•Application of the Mosher method to plants and fungi metabolites is reviewed.•Absolute configuration assignmnent to those compounds is described.•The biological and pharmacological activity of those chiral metabolites is reported.

The review deals with the application of the NMR advanced Mosher's method for the assignment of the absolute configuration to plant and fungal metabolites belonging to different classes of natural compounds. The structural and stereochemical characterization of these naturally occurring metabolites, as well as their biological properties as possible drugs or agrochemicals is reviewed. The importance of the absolute and relative stereochemistry on their biological properties is also highlighted. Successes and failures of application of the advanced Mosher's method are reported.