Digging up skeletons: We report the identification and the functional characterization of two terpene cyclases (DtcycA and DtcycB) that were mined from the genome of Streptomyces sp. SANK 60404. DtcycA and DtcycB are novel bacterial diterpene cyclases for the synthesis of the cembrane skeleton.

A new diterpene antitumor antibiotic, myrocin C, has been isolated from the culture filtrate of a soil fungus, Myrothecium verrucaria strain No. 55. The antibiotic was effective against Gram-positive bacteria, fungi and yeasts, and prolonged the life span of mice bearing Ehrlich ascites carcinoma.

The absolute configuration of the diterpenoid 9,12-cyclomulin-13-ol (1), a constituent of Azorella and Laretia species, has been established by vibrational circular dichroism spectroscopy in combination with density functional theory calculations. The obtained normal diterpene absolute configuration confirms that of azorellanol (2), which was determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction.

Two flavones, ladanein and 6-hydroxy-5,7,4′-trimethoxyflavone and one labdane-typediterpene, ent-13-epi-manoyloxide, were isolated from an ethyl acetate-methanol extract ofthe aerial parts of Salvia sharifii. The compounds were purified using several chromatographicmethods. Structural elucidation of the compounds was performed using their 1H and 13C-NMRdata, EI mass and UV spectral data. The co...

Synthesis of two ent-kaurane diterpene glycosides, steviol 19-O-β-D-glucopyranosiduronic acid (steviol glucuronide, 5), and 13-hydroxy ent-kaur-16-en-19-oic acid-β-D-glucopyranosyl ester (7) has been achieved from a common starting material, steviol, using phase transfer catalyst. Also, synthesis of an additional 17-nor-ent-kaurane glycoside, namely 13-methyl-16-oxo-17-nor-ent-kauran-19-oic aci...