Continued investigation of the marine alga Laurencia claviformis has led to the isolation of pacifenol, a halogenated sesquiterpene as the major metabolite. The microbial transformation of pacifenol is reported. It was cultivated with a marine strain of Penicillium brevicompactum yielding a new compound. The structure was elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic data. The anti-microbial activit...

The X-ray structure of acantholide, a melampolide sesquiterpene lactone from Acanthospermum glabratum (DC.) Willd. was determined by the aid of direct methods. The compound was cytotoxic but displayed no antitumor activity. Evaluation of the X-ray and NMR data indicated that the same conformation exists in the solid state as in solution.

Isotenulin, C17H22O5, is a sesquiterpene lactone isolated from sneezeweed Helenium amarum. It crystallizes with two independent mol-ecules in the asymmetric unit. In each mol-ecule, two five-membered rings (cyclo-pentenone and lactone) are trans-fused to the central seven-membered ring. The five-membered rings each adopt envelope conformations. The seven-membered ring adopts a twist-chair confo...

A new epoxy-cadinane sesquiterpene, 4beta,5beta-epoxycadinan-1beta-ol (1), and six known cadinane sesquiterpenes: cadinan-1,4,5-triol (2), 4alpha,5beta-dihydroxycubenol (3), cubenol (4), cadinan-3-ene-1,5-diol (5), cubenol-3-one (6), and torreyol (7), were isolated from a sample of marine brown alga Dictyopteris divaricata collected off the coast of Yantai (China). Their structures were establi...

3-Ishwarone, (1), a sesquiterpene with a rare ishwarane skeleton, was isolated from Peperomia scandens Ruiz & Pavon (Piperaceae). Its structure was unambiguously determined by 1D- and 2D-NMR and infrared analyses, as well as by comparative theoretical studies which involved calculations of 13C-NMR chemical shifts, using the Density Functional Theory (DFT) with the mPW1PW91 hybrid functional and...

A synthetic approach to the tricyclic sesquiterpene sulcatine G, 2, bearing a novel tricyclo[6.2.0.2(2,6)]decane framework, from commercially available 1,5-cod and leading to the first total synthesis of the natural product is described.

To overcome the potential future demand for terpenoids used as drugs, a new production platform is currently being established in our laboratory. The moss Physcomitrella has been chosen as the candidate organism for production of drug candidates based on terpenoids derived from plants, with a primary focus on the sesquiterpene lactone, thapsigargin. This drug candidate and other candidates/drug...