CP-78,545, a new monocarboxylic acid ionophore antibiotic related to zincophorin and produced by a Streptomyces.

A new monocarboxylic acid ionophore antibiotic related to zincophorin, CP-78,545 (1), was found in the culture broth of Streptomyces sp. N731-45. CP-78,545 was extracted with organic solvents and purified by column chromatography. The metabolite, which is active in vitro against certain Gram-positive bacteria, as well as the anaerobe Treponema hyodysenteriae, and a coccidium Eimeria tenella, was isolated as a water insoluble magnesium salt (2) in 2:1 (ligand/metal) stoichiometry. The structure of CP-78,545 was elucidated by spectroscopic (NMR and MS) methods, and the relative stereochemistry was determined by single-crystal X-ray analysis of the cadmium salt (3). CP-78,545, i.e., 24-dehydrozincophorin, is unique since its molecular backbone contains a terminal double bond previously not found in other polyether ionophores.