Secondary Metabolites of Clinacanthus nutans

Chemistry of Natural Compounds -     

Secondary Metabolites of Elaeagnus thunbergii

Chemistry of Natural Compounds -     

Secondary Metabolites of Mahonia bealei

Chemistry of Natural Compounds -     

Secondary Metabolites from Magnolia kachirachirai

Investigation of the root bark of Magnolia kachirachirai led to the isolation of a new sesquiterpene, kachirachirain ( 1 ), and a new aporphine alkaloid, kachirachiranine ( 2 ), together with 20 known compounds, of which dimethyl 4,4′‐methylenebis(4,1‐phenylene)diurethane ( 3 ) was isolated for the first time from a natural source. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic analysis.     

New Secondary Metabolites from Asphodelus tenuifolius

Asphorins A and B ( 1 and 2 , resp.), two new triterpene glycosides, have been isolated along with a new chromone, 3 , from the AcOEt subfraction of the MeOH extract of the whole plant of Asphodelus tenuifolius. Their structures were elucidated by spectral analysis including 2D‐NMR spectroscopic experiments.     

New Secondary Metabolites from Allium victorialis

Allumines A and B ( 1 and 2 , resp.), two new steroidal alkaloids, and a new cyclopentene derivative, 3 , were isolated from the CHCl₃‐soluble fraction of the whole plant of Allium victorialis. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic techniques, including 1D‐ and 2D‐NMR spectroscopy.     

Conversion of Polyethylenes into Fungal Secondary Metabolites

Waste plastics represent major environmental and economic burdens due to their ubiquity, slow breakdown rates, and inadequacy of current recycling routes. Polyethylenes are particularly problematic, because they lack robust recycling approaches despite being the most abundant plastics in use today. We report a novel chemical and biological approach for the rapid conversion of polyethylenes into structurally complex and pharmacologically active compounds. We present conditions for aerobic, catalytic digestion of polyethylenes collected from post-consumer and oceanic waste streams, creating carboxylic diacids that can then be used as a carbon source by the fungus Aspergillus nidulans. As a proof of principle, we have engineered strains of A. nidulans to synthesize the fungal secondary metabolites asperbenzaldehyde, citreoviridin, and mutilin when grown on these digestion products. This hybrid approach considerably expands the range of products to which polyethylenes can be upcycled.     

Secondary Metabolites of the Lichen Parmotrema cristiferum

Chemistry of Natural Compounds - A new C41-spiroterpenoid, norreticulatin (1), has been isolated from the thalli of Parmotrema cristiferum together with four known compounds, anadensin (2),...     

Secondary Metabolites of Purpureocillium lilacinum

Fungi can synthesize a wealth of secondary metabolites, which are widely used in the exploration of lead compounds of pharmaceutical or agricultural importance. Beauveria, Metarhizium, and Cordyceps are the most extensively studied fungi in which a large number of biologically active metabolites have been identified. However, relatively little attention has been paid to Purpureocillium lilacinum. P. lilacinum are soil-habituated fungi that are widely distributed in nature and are very important biocontrol fungi in agriculture, providing good biological control of plant parasitic nematodes and having a significant effect on Aphidoidea, Tetranychus cinnbarinus, and Aleyrodidae. At the same time, it produces secondary metabolites with various biological activities such as anticancer, antimicrobial, and insecticidal. This review attempts to provide a comprehensive overview of the secondary metabolites of P. lilacinum, with emphasis on the chemical diversity and biological activity of these secondary metabolites and the biosynthetic pathways, and gives new insight into the secondary metabolites of medical and entomogenous fungi, which is expected to provide a reference for the development of medicine and agrochemicals in the future.     

Metabolite Differences of Polyphenols in Different Litchi Cultivars (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) Based on Extensive Targeted Metabonomics

Litchi is an important fruit cultivated in tropical and subtropical areas with high nutritious and delicious flavor and the pulp is the main part of the fruit consumed. Previous studies found that litchi had high total phenol content and antioxidant activity, but most of them focused on the identification of single or a few phenolic components with a low throughput test, and the metabolic differences of cultivars are still unknown to a some extent. In this study we used widely targeted metabolome based on ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) to analyze the polyphenol metabolites of five different genotypes of mature litchi fruit. A total of 126 polyphenol metabolites in eight categories were identified to reveal the composition and differences of polyphenol; 15 common differential metabolites and 20 specific differential metabolites to each cultivar were found for the first time. The results infer that flavonoids, flavonols, hydroxycinnamoyls and catechins are the main polyphenol metabolites of litchi pulp. Cluster analysis showed that there were three groups of polyphenols from high to low; early maturing Feizhixiao is a kind of high polyphenol content cultivars, especially in catechins, anthocyanins, flavonols, quinic acids and hydroxycinnamoyls. The polyphenols in the flesh of mature litchi are rich, and there are significant differences among cultivars; there was a level of correlation between the contents of phenolics and the maturity of litchi cultivars; the content of phenolics in early maturing litchi cultivars appeared higher than those of mid- to late-maturing cultivars. This experiment will provide significant reference information for cultivation, breeding, processing and consumption.     

Recently Discovered Secondary Metabolites from Streptomyces Species

The Streptomyces genus has been a rich source of bioactive natural products, medicinal chemicals, and novel drug leads for three-quarters of a century. Yet studies suggest that the genus is capable of making some 150,000 more bioactive compounds than all Streptomyces secondary metabolites reported to date. Researchers around the world continue to explore this enormous potential using a range of strategies including modification of culture conditions, bioinformatics and genome mining, heterologous expression, and other approaches to cryptic biosynthetic gene cluster activation. Our survey of the recent literature, with a particular focus on the year 2020, brings together more than 70 novel secondary metabolites from Streptomyces species, which are discussed in this review. This diverse array includes cyclic and linear peptides, peptide derivatives, polyketides, terpenoids, polyaromatics, macrocycles, and furans, the isolation, chemical structures, and bioactivity of which are appraised. The discovery of these many different compounds demonstrates the continued potential of Streptomyces as a source of new and interesting natural products and contributes further important pieces to the mostly unfinished puzzle of Earth’s myriad microbes and their multifaceted chemical output.     

Secondary Metabolites from the Actinobacterium Amycolatopsis taiwanensis

Chemistry of Natural Compounds -     

针荔海绵Raphiedotethya sp.的次生代谢产物

从海南省三亚附近海域采集的针荔海绵Raphiedotethya sp.中分离到1个新神经酰胺和1个甾醇苷.经波谱分析和化学分析确定了它们的化学结构依次为:(2s,3S,4R,2'R)-N-(2'-羟基-二十二碳酰基)-1,3,4-三羟基-2.氨基-二十一烷(1)和4-O-[β-D-吡喃木糖苷]-孕甾-20-烯-3β,4α-二醇(2).     

Secondary Metabolites from the Fungus Chaetomium brasiliense

Two new depsidones, mollicellins I and J ( 1 and 2 , resp.), and a new chromone, 2‐(hydroxymethyl)‐6‐methylmethyleugenin ( 3 ), along with six known compounds, 4 – 9 , were isolated from the ethyl acetate extract of a solid‐state fermented culture of Chaetomium brasiliense. Their structures were elucidated based on spectroscopic analysis. Mollicellins I and H ( 5 ) exhibited significant growth inhibitory activity against human breast cancer (Bre04), human lung (Lu04), and human neuroma (N04) cell lines with GI₅₀ values between 2.5–8.6 μg/ml.