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The calixarene‐templated synthesis of new cyclo(meta‐ polyphenylenes (CMPs) is described. These compounds are functionalized with added aromatic units, that are suitably oriented for oxidative aromatization to be envisioned. This could pave the way towards the synthesis of elongated segments of zigzag‐type single‐walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Applying a single molecular probe to monitor enzymatic activities in multiple, complementary imaging modalities is highly desirable to ascertain detection and to avoid the complexity associated with the use of agents of different chemical entities. We demonstrate here the versatility of lanthanide (Ln3+) complexes with respect to their optical and magnetic properties and their potential for enzymatic detection in NIR luminescence, CEST and T1 MR imaging, controlled by the nature of the Ln3+ ion, while using a unique chelator. Based on X‐ray structural, photophysical, and solution NMR investigations of a family of Ln3+ DO3A‐pyridine model complexes, we could rationalize the luminescence (Eu3+, Yb3+), CEST (Yb3+) and relaxation (Gd3+) properties and their variations between carbamate and amine derivatives. This allowed the design of LnLGal5 ${{{\bf L n L}}_{{\bf G a l}}^{5}}$ probes which undergo enzyme‐mediated changes detectable in NIR luminescence, CEST and T1‐weighted MRI, respectively governed by variations in their absorption energy, in their exchanging proton pool and in their size, thus relaxation efficacy. We demonstrate that these properties can be exploited for the visualization of β‐galactosidase activity in phantom samples by different imaging modalities: NIR optical imaging, CEST and T1‐weighted MRI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A formal total synthesis of the natural macrolide antibiotic tiacumicin B is described featuring successive and selective glycosylations of tiacumicinone. The challenging β‐facial selectivity of these key glycosylation steps was achieved by using noviosyl or rhamnosyl donors equipped with a phenyl sulfoxide leaving group and a 3‐O‐picoloyl group ensuring an efficient remote stereodirecting effect. Compared with our former total synthesis, this strategy enables us to save steps and gain access to new analogs. This was demonstrated by the replacement of the rhamnosidic moiety by a d‐mannose derivative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since its partial configurational assignment in 1964, pandamine has not been isolated or obtained by total synthesis. For decades, different works representing the structure of pandamine for illustrative purposes have lent different configurations to this molecule, causing tenacious confusion about the structure of this ansapeptide. A comprehensive spectroscopic analysis of the authentic pandamine sample led to the complete and unambiguous assignment of its configuration, 59 years after its isolation. In addition to ascertaining and completing the initial structural deductions by a state-of-the-art set of analytical techniques, the purpose of this study is also to clarify the literature in a context in which various erroneous structures have been attributed to pandamine for half a century. While fully in agreement with Goutarel's conclusions, the specific example of pandamine should serve as a cautionary tale to any chemist interested in natural products, encouraging access to initial structural assignments rather than relying solely on subsequent, possibly erroneous, structure depictions of a natural product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UHPLC–HRMS analysis of Cortinarius ominosus basidiomata extract revealed that this mushroom accumulated elevated yields of an unreported specialized metabolite. The molecular formula of this unknown compound, C17H10O8, indicated that a challenging structure elucidation lay ahead, owing to its critically low H/C atom ratio. The structure of this new isolate, namely ominoxanthone (1), could not be solved from the interpretation of the usual set of 1D/2D NMR data that conveyed too limited information to afford a single, unambiguous structure. To remedy this, a Computer-Assisted Structure Elucidation (CASE) workflow was used to rank the different possible structure candidates consistent with our scarce spectroscopic data. DFT-based chemical shift calculations on a limited set of top-ranked structures further ascertained the determined structure for ominoxanthone. Although the determined scaffold of ominoxanthone is unprecedented as a natural product, a plausible biosynthetic scenario involving a precursor known from cortinariaceous sources and classical biogenetic reactions could be proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structure elucidation of theionbrunonine C, a thioether‐bridged dimeric monoterpene indole alkaloid (MIA), and more generally, one of the very few sulfur‐containing MIA, is reported after its isolation from Mostuea brunonis (Gelsemiaceae). This unstable structure had already been targeted for isolation in our former, molecular network‐guided, investigation of this plant, but this compound had degraded before sufficient spectroscopic data could have been acquired for a complete structure assignment. With this constraint in mind, the rapid acquisition of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) data enabled retrieving sufficient spectroscopic information for full structure elucidation, although from a partial set of spectroscopic information (1H and 13C NMR; COSY, HSQC, and HMBC). In conjunction with biosynthetic considerations, the cursory examination of 13C NMR data unambiguously defined the complete stereostructure of 1, as further supported by density functional theory (DFT)‐NMR calculations and subsequent DP4 probability score. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improved methodological tools to hasten antimalarial drug discovery remain of interest, especially when considering natural products as a source of drug candidates. We propose a biodereplication method combining the classical dereplication approach with the early detection of potential antiplasmodial compounds in crude extracts. Heme binding is used as a surrogate of the antiplasmodial activity and is monitored by mass spectrometry in a biomimetic assay. Molecular networking and automated annotation of targeted mass through data mining were followed by mass-guided compound isolation by taking advantage of the versatility and finely tunable selectivity offered by centrifugal partition chromatography. This biodereplication workflow was applied to an ethanolic extract of the Amazonian medicinal plant Piper coruscans Kunth (Piperaceae) showing an IC50 of 1.36 µg/mL on the 3D7 Plasmodium falciparum strain. It resulted in the isolation of twelve compounds designated as potential antiplasmodial compounds by the biodereplication workflow. Two chalcones, aurentiacin (1) and cardamonin (3), with IC50 values of 2.25 and 5.5 µM, respectively, can be considered to bear the antiplasmodial activity of the extract, with the latter not relying on a heme-binding mechanism. This biodereplication method constitutes a rapid, efficient, and robust technique to identify potential antimalarial compounds in complex extracts such as plant extracts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structure and complete nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) assignments of orbifomitellic acid, a novel lanostane triterpene isolated from the fruiting bodies of a Gabonese Ganoderma orbiforme (Polyporaceae), are reported. Within the vast catalogue of lanostanes documented from Ganoderma spp., orbifomitellic acid is the first disclosing a –COOH group at C‐4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Camellimidazoles A–C were recently reported as natural substances in Keemun black tea. Although a "biosynthetic" route to these intriguing imidazole dimers was proposed from caffeine by the authors in this seminal report, we envisioned that a artefactual scenario, consisting of alkaline hydrolysis of caffeine and spontaneous cascade reactions with a methylene donor such as formaldehyde or methylene chloride, could also have led to their formation. To capture the diversity of molecules obtained under these conditions (i.e. alkaline treatment of caffeine/formaldehyde), an in silico MetWork‐based pipeline was implemented, highlighting the sought‐after camellimidazoles B and C. A wealth of further compounds were also tagged, notably comprising the herein newly described and unnatural camellimidazoles D–F that were subsequently confirmed as anticipated in silico upon extensive spectroscopic analyses. Likewise, camellimidazoles B and C could also be obtained using methylene chloride as an alternative methylene donor which may also have occurred in the initial phytochemical pipeline that implied this solvent. The current investigation emphasizes the fitness of MetWork tagging to extend the logic of in silico anticipation of metabolic pathways to organic chemistry reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chemical composition of the marine sponge Phorbas tenacior was investigated in depth. The anchinopeptolides A–D bearing a central pyrrolidinone were isolated together with a new congener named anchinopeptolide E corresponding to an epimer of anchinopeptolide C. The relative configuration of the central core of anchinopeptolide E was determined by extensive NMR analyses. Additionally, the previously isolated cyclobutane derivative cycloanchinopeptolide C was not detected from the sponge extract but could be synthesised by a photoinduced intramolecular [2+2] cycloaddition giving convincing evidence for its artefactual origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reported is the enantioselective total syntheses of mavacuran alkaloids, (+)‐taberdivarine H, (+)‐16‐hydroxymethyl‐pleiocarpamine, and (+)‐16‐epi‐pleiocarpamine, and their postulated biosynthetic precursor 16‐formyl‐pleiocarpamine. This family of monoterpene indole alkaloids is a target of choice since some of its members are subunits of intricate bisindole alkaloids such as bipleiophylline. Inspired by the biosynthetic hypothesis, an oxidative coupling approach from the geissoschizine framework to form the N1−C16 bond was explored. Quaternization of the aliphatic nitrogen center was key to achieving the oxidative coupling induced by KHMDS/I2 as it masks the nucleophilicity of the aliphatic nitrogen center and locks in the required cis conformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the outstanding chemical diversity found in marine sponges, cyclic guanidine alkaloids, present in species of the family Crambeidae, are particularly attractive, not only because of their unique chemical features, but also due to a broad range of biological activities. Despite a growing interest in these natural products as therapeutic agents, their metabolic pathway has not been experimentally investigated. Ex situ feeding experiments using radiolabeled precursors performed on the Mediterranean sponge Crambe crambe suggest arginine and fatty acids as precursors in the metabolic pathway of crambescins. A subsequent bio‐inspired approach supported the change of paradigm in the metabolic pathway of cyclic guanidine alkaloids. A large part of the chemical diversity of this family would therefore originate from a tethered Biginelli‐like reaction between C‐2/C‐3 activated fatty acids and a central guanidinylated pyrrolinium. Cyclic guanidine alkaloids: A biosynthesis study on the marine sponge Crambe crambe suggests a mixed origin (fatty acid/arginine) for crambescins. The chemical logic of the new scenario was ascertained using a bio‐inspired synthesis of crambescin A2 and could pave the way for a unified metabolic pathway of cyclic guanidine alkaloids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guided by a 'chemistry first' approach using molecular networking, eight new bright-blue colored natural compounds, namely dactylocyanines A-H ( 3- 10), were isolated from the Polynesian marine sponge Dactylospongia metachromia. Starting from ilimaquinone ( 1), an hemisynthetic phishing probe ( 2) was prepared for annotating and matching structurally related natural substances in D. metachromia crude extract network. This strategy allowed characterizing for the first time in Nature the blue zwitterionic quinonoid chromophore. The solvatochromic properties of the latter are reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A methodological study towards the total synthesis of marmycin A/B is described exploiting a commercial anthraquinone molecule as model compound. The challenging synthetic pathway uncovers a copper-catalysed Ullmann cross-coupling to attach the sugar backbone by means of C–N bond formation and, finally, an intramolecular Friedel–Crafts C–C glycosylation to successfully afford the core structure of marmycin A. This methodology has been successfully applied to the genuine anthraquinone moiety leading to the natural product and simpler structural analogues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clotrimazole (CTZ) and cyclodextrin (CD) inclusion complexes having improved apparent water solubility were obtained from phase solubility diagrams. β-CD (1.5% w/w) and hydroxypropyl-β-CD (40% w/w) offered poor CTZ solubility enhancements (12 and 384 times, respectively). Unexpectedly, the apparent solubility of CTZ was 9980 times increased from 0.4 µg.mL−1 (1.42 μM) without CD to 4.89 mg.mL−1 (14.9 mM) using randomly-methylated β-CD (Me-β-CD) (40% w/w). This is the highest apparent CTZ solubility improvement ever reported in the literature using conventional CDs. Quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) coupled with two-dimensional nuclear Overhauser effect (NOESY) experiments and molecular docking calculations showed that the highest interactions with Me-β-CD were reported for CTZ two phenyl groups. A lower interaction was reported for chlorophenyl, while imidazole had the weakest interaction with Me-β-CD. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The synthesis of new naphthopyranotriazolopyrimidines phosphonates 4a–i in good yields (74%–93%) has been accomplished via Michaelis–Arbusov rearrangement by the reaction of trialkyl phosphite with naphthopyranotriazolopyrimidines chloride 3a–e, which were obtained from α-functionalized iminoethers 1 in two steps. The synthesized compounds 4a–i were completely characterized by IR, 1H, 13C, and 31P NMR and HRMS. Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Phosphorus, Sulfur, and Silicon and the Related Elements to view the free supplemental file. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Epicatechocorynantheines A and B, and epicatechocorynantheidine were isolated from the stem bark of Corynanthe pachyceras. These molecules were pinpointed, and their isolation streamlined, by a molecular networking strategy. The structural elucidation was unambiguously accomplished from HRMS and 1D/2D NMR data. These compounds represent the first examples of corynanthean-type alkaloids tethered with a flavonoid. Epicatechocorynantheidine notably instigated two connections between the monoterpene indole alkaloid and the flavonoid, yielding an unprecedented octacyclic appendage. These flavoalkaloids exerted moderate antiplasmodial activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fungi Chrysosporium lobatum TM-237-S5 was isolated from the sponge Acanthella cavernosa, collected from the mesophotic coral ecosystem of the Red Sea. The strain was cultivated on a potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium, coupling solid-state fermentation and solid-state extraction (SSF/SSE) with a neutral macroreticular polymeric adsorbent XAD Amberlite resin (AMBERLITE XAD1600N). The SSF/SSE lead to high chemodiversity and productivity compared to classical submerged cultivation. Ten phenalenone related compounds were isolated and fully characterized by one-dimensional and two-dimensional NMR and HRMS. Among them, four were found to be new compounds corresponding to isoconiolactone, (-)-peniciphenalenin F, (+)-8-hydroxyscleroderodin, and (+)-8-hydroxysclerodin. It is concluded that SSF/SSE is a powerful strategy, opening a new era for the exploitation of microbial secondary metabolites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Isolation of marine compounds from living invertebrates represents a major challenge for sustainable and environmentally friendly exploitation of marine bio-resources. To develop innovative technology to trap invertebrate compounds in the open sea, the proof of concept of a system combining external continuous circulation of water with XAD-amberlite solid-phase extraction was validated in an aquarium. In this work, we reported the elicitation of guanidine alkaloid production of Crambe crambe in the presence of Anemonia sulcata, both collected from the Mediterranean Sea. Besides the previously reported crambescidin 359 (1), and crambescidin acid (2), three new compounds were isolated; one carboxylated analog of 1 named crambescidin 401 (3), and two analogs of crambescin B, crambescin B 281 (4) and crambescin B 253 (5). Based on these results, a technology named Somartex® for “Self Operating MARine Trapping Extractor” was patented and built to transfer the concept from closed aquarium systems to open marine ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, molecular networking has emerged as a promising computer‐based approach to visualize and organize MS/MS data sets arising from complex mixtures. The success of this strategy relies on the availability and quality of MS/MS data for the annotation of the networks. In this study, MS/MS spectra of a well‐tailored phishing probe were incorporated into Dactylospongia metachromia crude extract network for annotating and matching structurally related natural substances. This “Chemistry First” approach allowed characterizing for the first time in Nature the blue zwitterionic quinonoid chromophore. For more information see the Full Paper by M. A. Beniddir et al. on page 14454 ff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Micro- and nano-platelets are a group of particles with typical flat surfaces and hexagonal shape. They are obtained by hierarchical self-assembly in water of α-cyclodextrin and polysaccharides hydrophobically-modified with alkyl chains. It is expected that the formation of well structured and cohesive platelets is driven by the interaction between alkyl chains grafted on polysaccharides and α-cyclodextrin. The objective of this investigation is to tune platelet formation by modifying these two parameters, independently on polysaccharide composition. A systematic study was conducted by varying polysaccharide type (dextran, pullulan, amylopectin), degree of substitution (DS:0.1–5.6%) and α-cyclodextrin concentration (0–10 wt%) for a fixed concentration of polysaccharide esterified with palmitoyl groups (1 wt%). Characterizations include ATR-FTIR, elemental analysis, solid state 13 C NMR and transmission electron microscopy. Abundant and well-organized hexagonal platelets were obtained with high DS (4.2–5.6%) and a concentration of α-cyclodextrin higher than 2.5 wt%. Isothermal titration calorimetry revealed a sequential binding with a stoichiometry of 2 α-cyclodextrin molecules for 1 palmitoyl group grafted on dextran. This is the first report showing the possibility to control platelet formation by modifying DS and α-cyclodextrin concentration, independently on polysaccharide composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Two novel dimeric pyrrole-aminoimidazole (PAI) alkaloids (−) donnazoles A–B (1–2) were isolated from the marine sponge Axinella donnani collected off the Mauritius Island. Their structures were elucidated mainly by 2D NMR. Both compounds bear the crucial substituted cyclopentane of ‘pre-axinellamine’, the hypothetical common intermediate of all dimeric PAIs. Additionally, the essential trans-6,7 ring junction of palau′amine’s congeners is already established in 1 and 2. The absolute configurations of 1 and 2 were deduced via NOE correlations in combination with the comparison of their circular dichroism data with the one of (−) sceptrin. The absolute configuration of (−) donnazoles A (1) and B (2) is coherent with the absolute configuration of the known dimeric members of PAI alkaloids. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Sch-642305 is the major compound produced by the endophytic fungi Phomopsis sp. CMU-LMA. Incubation of Sch-642305 with Aspergillus ochraceus ATCC 1009 resting cells leads to three new derivatives through an oxido-reduction of the six-membered ring of the molecule. Reduction of the double bound leads to compound (1), which subsequently undergoes carbonyl reduction to (2) and ring hydroxylation to (3). According to the previously solved crystal structure of Sch-642305 coupled with 1H NMR NOE correlation and the crystal structure of compound 1, the absolute configurations of the new derivatives were established. In contrast to the parent compound Sch-642305, compound (1) exhibits antimicrobial activity against Gram-negative bacteria. Furthermore, while all derivatives exhibit cytotoxic activity against various cancer cell lines, compound (2) achieved an IC50 of 4nM against human myelogenous leukemia K 562, compared to 20nM for the parent Sch-642305. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Three new xanthone dimers, eumitrins C − E (1–3), along with a new depsidone, 3′-O-demethylcryptostictinolide (4) were isolated from the acetone extract of the whole thallus of the lichen Usnea baileyi collected in Vietnam. Their structures were unambiguously established by spectroscopic analyses (HRESIMS, 1D and 2D NMR), as well as comparison to literature data. The absolute configurations of 1–3 were elucidated through electronic circular dichroism (ECD) analyses. The absolute configuration of 2 was validated by comparison between experimental and TDDFT-calculated ECD spectra while that of 3 was based on DFT-NMR calculations and subsequent DP4 probability score. The antiparasitic activities against Plasmodium falciparum as well as the cytotoxic activity against seven cell lines were determined for the new compounds 1–3, and led from null to mild bioactivities. Unlabelled Image [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]