Find in Library

Marine-derived fungi of the genera <i>Aspergillus</i> could produce novel compounds with significant bioactivities. Among these fungi, the strain <i>Aspergillus flavus</i> is notorious for its mutagenic mycotoxins production. However, some minor components with certain toxicities from <i>A. flavus</i> have not been specifically surveyed and might have potent biological activities. Our investigation of the marine-derived fungus <i>Aspergillus flavus</i> CF13-11 cultured in solid medium led to the isolation of four C-6&#8242;/C-7&#8242; epimeric drimane sesquiterpene esters, asperienes A&#8722;D (<b>1</b>&#8722;<b>4</b>). Their absolute configurations were assigned by electronic circular dichroism (ECD) and Snatzke&#8217;s methods. This is the first time that two pairs of C-6&#8242;/C-7&#8242; epimeric drimane sesquiterpene esters have successfully been separated. Aperienes A&#8722;D (<b>1</b>&#8722;<b>4</b>) displayed potent bioactivities towards four cell lines with the IC₅₀ values ranging from 1.4 to 8.3 &#956;M. Interestingly, compounds <b>1</b> and <b>4</b> exhibited lower toxicities than <b>2</b> and <b>3</b> toward normal GES-1 cells, indicating more potential for development as an antitumor agent in the future.