Concise Syntheses and Biological Activities of Ganomycin I and Fornicin A

Insights into Ganoderma fungi meroterpenoids opening a new era of racemic natural products in mushrooms

Ganoderma meroterpenoids (GMs) containing 688 structures to date were discovered to have multiple remarkable biological activities. 65.6% of meroterpenoids featuring stereogenic centers from Ganoderma species are racemates. Further, GMs from different Ganoderma species seem to have their own characteristics. In this review, a comprehensive summarization of GMs since 2000 is presented, including GM structures, structure corrections, biological activities, physicochemical properties, total synthesis, and proposed biosynthetic pathways. Additionally, we especially discuss the racemic nature, species-related structural distribution, and structure-activity relationship of GMs, which will provide a likely in-house database and shed light on future studies on GMs.

Synthesis and structure-activity relationship of violaceoid D, a cytotoxic alkylated phenol isolated from Aspergillus violaceofuscus Gasperini

The enantioselective synthesis of violaceoid D, a cytotoxic phenolic compound isolated from the culture broth of Aspergillus violaceofuscus Gasperini, was achieved. The total synthesis involves stereoselective construction of the stereogenic center of violaceoid D via Sharpless asymmetric dihydroxylation, followed by Smiles rearrangement. The absolute configuration of natural violaceoid D was determined to be R from the specific rotation value. Synthesized violaceoid D and its analogs were evaluated for cytotoxicity against two human cancer cell lines, Jurkat and HCT116. Because the enantiomer of violaceoid D showed no cytotoxicity, it is plausible that violaceoid D binds selectively to specific target molecules, such as proteins in the cancer cells.

(±)-Ganoapplanin, a Pair of Polycyclic Meroterpenoid Enantiomers from Ganoderma applanatum

(±)-Ganoapplanin (1), a pair of novel meroterpenoid enantiomers featuring an unprecedented dioxaspirocyclic skeleton constructed from a 6/6/6/6 tetracyclic system and an unusual tricyclo[4.3.3.0^3',7']dodecane motif, were isolated from Ganoderma applanatum. Its structure and absolute configurations were determined by spectroscopic analyses, X-ray crystallography, and ECD (electronic circular dichroism calculations). A plausible biogenetic pathway, involving a key Gomberg-Bachmann reaction, was also proposed for (±)-1. Biological studies showed that (±)-1 and its enantiomers exhibited different inhibitory activities on T-type voltage-gated calcium channels.

Two pairs of farnesyl phenolic enantiomers as natural nitric oxide inhibitors from Ganoderma sinense

Four new farnesyl phenolic compounds, ganosinensols A-D (1-4) were isolated from the 95% EtOH extract of the fruiting bodies of Ganoderma sinense. Two pairs of enantiomers, 1/2, and 3/4 were isolated by HPLC using a Daicel Chiralpak IE column. Their structures were elucidated from extensive spectroscopic analyses and comparison with literature data. The absolute configurations of 1-4 were assigned by ECD spectra. All of these isolated compounds showed potent inhibitory activity against LPS-induced nitric oxide production in RAW 264.7 macrophages, with IC50 values from 1.15 to 2.26μM.