Covering: January 2003 to June 2004. Previous review: Nat. Prod. Rep.2003, 20, 584

Novel and structurally diverse natural products containing imidazole-, oxazole-, or thiazole-unit(s) display a wide variety of biological activities. The isolation, biological activity and total synthesis of naturally occurring muscarine, imidazole, oxazole and thiazole alkaloids have been reviewed. The literature covers from January 2003 to June 2004, and 168 references are cited.