2‐Hydroxytorularhodin,a New Xanthophyll from the Red Yeast Sporobolomyces coprosmae

A new hydroxylated carotenoic acid was isolated from the red yeast Sporobolomyces coprosmae and unambiguously identified as 2‐hydroxytorularhodin ( 1 ), i.e., (all‐E)‐3′,4′‐didehydro‐2‐hydroxy‐β,ψ‐caroten‐16′‐oic acid, by application of extensive 1D and 2D NMR techniques (gCOSY, gHSQC, gHMBC, DQS, gTOCSY, and ROESY). Hydroxylation of carotenoids at C(2) is uncommon in nature, very rare in fungi, and unprecedented for torularhodin.