Merrilactone synthesis

Hongbin Zhai and co-workers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have published in ACIE on the synthesis of merrilactone where they used a Pauson-Khand reaction as one of the key steps.

ACIE paper

(8R)-3β,8-Dihydroxypolypoda-13E,17E,21-triene

Thomas Simmet and co-workers from Ulm University have reported in the Journal of Natural Products on the isolation of (8R)-3β,8-Dihydroxypolypoda-13E,17E,21-triene from the oleogum resin of P. lentiscus.  This compound had inhibitory activity against androgen-insensitive prostate cancers (~10 micromolar).

JNP paper

This molecule is pretty

Keiji Tanino and co-workers from Hokkaido University have reported in Nature Chemistry on the synthesis of solanoeclepin A – this molecule is similar to glycinoeclepin in activity and structure…the biological activity is related to dafachronic acid where it stimulates the hatching of nematodes.

Nature Chemistry paper

Machilusides

Jiangong Shi and co-workers at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences have reported in Organic Letters on the isolation of machilusides.

OL paper

Duboscic acid

Pascal Wafo and co-workers from France have published in Organic Letters on the isolation of duboscic acid.  It had alpha-glucosidase inhibition activity with with an IC₅₀ value of 100 ± 8.1 μM.  So you might wonder why alpha-glucosidase inhibition is important – alpha-glucosidase is an enzyme that hydrolyzes disaccharides into monosaccharides so the inhibition of this enzyme should slow down the absorption of glucose in people, which is especially important in diabetic patients.

 

OL paper

Esculeoside A

Toshihiro Nohara and co-workers at Sojo University have published in the Journal of Natural Products on the isolation of a compound that may help prevent atherosclerosis by inhibiting acyl-CoA:cholesterol acyl transferase (ACAT) or “CE” accumulation (cholesterol ester accumulation) at high doses (~50 micromolar – 40% CE accumulation inhibition).  Although the compound, esculeogenin A, was not as effective as the synthetic compound CI976, which inhibited CE accumulation by 90% at 5 micromolar, it was important to point out that the compound is from a natural food source.

JNP paper

Anti-Malarial Neemfruitins

Orazio Taglialatela-Scafali and co-workers from Universita di Napoli “Federico II” in Italy have published in the Journal of Natural Products on the isolation of two triterpenoids dubbed neemfruitins A and B that had antiplasmodial activities of 1.74 and 9.98 micromolar IC50 values against the W2 strain of Plasmodium falciporum.

JNP paper

Abiesatrine A

Wei-Dong Zhang and co-workers from the Second Military Medical University have recently reported on the isolation of abiestatrines.  Abiesatrine A possessed anti-tumor activities against QGY-773 cells with an IC50 of 7.3 micrograms/mL.

OBC paper

Shinalactone A

Han-Dong Sun and co-workers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have recently published in Organic Letters on a new cytotoxic triterpenoid called shinalactone A.  It had 5.9 micromolar IC50 value against PANC-1 human cancer cell line.

OL paper

Arisandilactone A

Arisandilactone A, a new triterpenoid, was reported by Ya-Ching Shen and co-workers at National Taiwan University in Organic Letters.

OL paper