Euryjanicins E–G,poly-phenylalanine,and poly-proline cyclic heptapeptides from the Caribbean sponge Prosuberites laughlini

A new investigation of the active sponge extracts of Prosuberites laughlini collected off the West coast of Puerto Rico has yielded three new cyclic heptapeptides, namely euryjanicins E (1)–G (3), containing multiple phenylalanine and proline residues. In CDCl₃ solution, each euryjanicin F (2) and G (3) exists as an inseparable complex mixture of conformational isomers. The molecular structures of 1–3 were elucidated by a combination of chemical degradation, extensive ESI-MS/MSⁿ analyses, and 2D NMR methods. The elucidation of the absolute configuration was achieved by HPLC following analysis of the acid hydrolysates after derivatization with Marfey's reagent. When assayed against the National Cancer Institute 60 tumor cell line panel, the new cyclic peptides did not display significant in vitro cytotoxicity.     

Isolation and characterization of kallosin A,a novel rearranged pseudopterane diterpenoid from the Caribbean sea plume Pseudopterogorgia kallos (Bielschowsky)

The Caribbean alcyonacean Pseudopterogorgia kallos is shown to contain a novel rearranged pseudopterane diterpene, kallosin A (1), possessing several unusual structural features. In addition to having two distinct 2(3H)- and 2(5H)-furanone moieties, kallosin A is based on a new carbon skeleton. The structural assignment of 1 was based mainly on 1D and 2D NMR spectral data and was further supported by accurate mass measurement and single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis.     

New diterpenes of the pseudopterane class from two closely related Pseudopterogorgia species: isolation, structural elucidation, and biological evaluation

Parallel chemical investigations of the hexane and chloroform extracts of the sea plumes Pseudopterogorgia bipinnata and Pseudopterogorgia kallos has led to the discovery of seven new diterpenoids of the pseudopterane class, namely, kallolide D (2), kallolide C acetate (3), kallolide E (4), kallolide F (5), kallolide G (6), kallolide H (7), and kallolide I (8), in addition to nine previously described compounds of the pseudopterane and gersolane families of diterpenes. The chemical structures of the new metabolites were established by 1D and 2D NMR, IR, UV, HRMS, and, in some instances, by single-crystal X-ray crystallographic analyses. Biological screening of these metabolites revealed significant anti-parasitic activity albeit marginal anti-tubercular activity.     

Inhibition of Phytopathogenic and Beneficial Fungi Applying Silver Nanoparticles In Vitro

In the current research, our work measured the effect of silver nanoparticles (AgNP) synthesized from Larrea tridentata (Sessé and Moc. ex DC.) on the mycelial growth and morphological changes in mycelia from different phytopathogenic and beneficial fungi. The assessment was conducted in Petri dishes, with Potato-Dextrose-Agar (PDA) as the culture medium; the AgNP concentrations used were 0, 60, 90, and 120 ppm. Alternaria solani and Botrytis cinerea showed the maximum growth inhibition at 60 ppm (70.76% and 51.75%). Likewise, Macrophomina spp. required 120 ppm of AgNP to achieve 65.43%, while Fusarium oxisporum was less susceptible, reaching an inhibition of 39.04% at the same concentration. The effect of silver nanoparticles was inconspicuous in Pestalotia spp., Colletotrichum gloesporoides, Phytophthora cinnamomi, Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium anisopliae, and Trichoderma viridae fungi. The changes observed in the morphology of the fungi treated with nanoparticles were loss of definition, turgidity, and constriction sites that cause aggregations of mycelium, dispersion of spores, and reduced mycelium growth. AgNP could be a sustainable alternative to managing diseases caused by Alternaria solani and Macrophomina spp.     

Identification of the binding of sceptrin to MreB via a bidirectional affinity protocol

A bidirectional affinity system was used to screen for marine natural products that bound to Escherichia coli proteins. A system was developed and applied to isolate the natural product sceptrin from an Agelas conifera extract and its affinity partner MreB from E. coli lysate. The use of a dual immunoaffinity fluorescent (IAF) tag permitted this process to co-immunoprecipitate the bacterial equivalent of actin, MreB, from E. coli lysate. MreB was subsequently validated as a target for sceptrin using a resistance mapping approach. The combination of these studies suggests that natural products and their protein targets can be isolated in concert using a melody of forward and reverse affinity matrices. While the structure of sceptrin was elucidated by NMR analysis, the bulk of effort was conducted without knowing the structure of the natural product, thereby elevating a key bottleneck in the development of high-throughput methods for natural product discovery.     

A convenient synthesis of vinyl sulfides

Dithioketals are converted in good yields to vinyi sulfides by action of diethylzinc and methylene iodide. The reaction has been successfully applied to dialkyl and diaryl dithioketals, to spirocyclic analogs, and to a dithioacetal. A monothioketal produced a vinyl ether (enol ether) with the same reagent.     

Popolohuanone A and B. two new sesquiterpenoid aminoquinones from a pacific sponge dysidea sp

Popolohuanone-A ( ) and B ( ) are two new sponge metabolites of composition C₄₂H₅₇NO₃. Their structures, which were determined by spectral and chemical correlations, comprise two molecules of a benzenoid moiety each linked to a rearranged drimane sesquiterpene and connected by an amino function.     

Structural characterization of Elisabatin B and Elisabatin C

X-ray structures of Elisabatin B (1) and Elisabatin C (2) have been determined. Crystal data for 1: Triclinic, P (No. 2), a = 7.528(2) Å, b = 9.404(2) Å, c = 11.414(2) Å, = 75.363(3)°, = 86.668(4)°, = 89.683(4)°, and Z = 2. Crystal data for 2: Monoclinic, P2₁/c (No. 14), a = 8.242(2) Å, b = 14.870(2) Å, c = 13.060(2) Å, = 101.458(3)°, and Z = 4. Both compounds are highly unsaturated leading to extended aromatic conjugation. They show different intermolecular O–HO hydrogen bonds, via which 1 forms dimers, and 2 zig-zag polymeric chains.     

Finite element solution of vector Poisson equation with a coupling boundary condition

The vector Poisson equation is sometimes supplemented by conditions that include the specification of the boundary value of the divergence of the unknown. A rigorous analysis of such a vector Poisson problem and uncoupled solution methods have been presented for domains of C^1,1 and Lipschitz regularity in [1] and [2], respectively. In this work, the finite element approximation of the two uncoupled solution methods is studied, and a convergence analysis of the numerical schemes is provided together with some numerical results. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 16: 71–83, 2000