Absolute Configuration Determination of Two Diastereomeric Neovasifuranones A and B from Fusarium oxysporum R1 by a Combination of Mosher’s Method and Chiroptical Approach

Endophytic fungi are one of prolific sources of bioactive natural products with potential application in biomedicine and agriculture. In our continuous search for antimicrobial secondary metabolites from Fusarium oxysporum R1 associated with traditional Chinese medicinal plant Rumex madaio Makino using one strain many compounds (OSMAC) strategy, two diastereomeric polyketides neovasifuranones A (3) and B (4) were obtained from its solid rice medium together with N-(2-phenylethyl)acetamide (1), 1-(3-hydroxy-2-methoxyphenyl)-ethanone (2) and 1,2-seco-trypacidin (5). Their planar structures were unambiguously determined using 1D NMR and MS spectroscopy techniques as well as comparison with the literature data. By a combination of the modified Mosher’s reactions and chiroptical methods using time-dependent density functional theory-electronic circular dichroism (TDDFT-ECD) and optical rotatory dispersion (ORD), the absolute configurations of compounds 3 and 4 are firstly confirmed and, respectively, characterized as (4S,7S,8R), (4S,7S,8S). Bioassay results indicate that these metabolites 1–5 exhibit weak inhibitory effect on Helicobacter pylori 159 with MIC values of ≥16 μg/mL. An in-depth discussion for enhancement of fungal metabolite diversity is also proposed in this work.

Absolute Configuration of In Situ Crystallized (+)-γ-Decalactone

Knowledge about the absolute configuration of small bioactive organic molecules is essential in pharmaceutical research because enantiomers can exhibit considerably different effects on living organisms. X-ray crystallography enables chemists to determine the absolute configuration of an enantiopure compound due to anomalous dispersion. Here, we present the determination of the absolute configuration of the flavoring agent (+)-γ-decalactone, which is liquid under ambient conditions. Single crystals were grown from the liquid in a glass capillary by in situ cryo-crystallization. Diffraction data collection was performed using Cu-Kα radiation. The absolute configuration was confirmed. The molecule consists of a linear aliphatic non-polar backbone and a polar lactone head. In the solid state, layers of polar and non-polar sections of the molecule alternating along the c-axis of the unit cell are observed. In favorable cases, this method of absolute configuration determination of pure liquid (bioactive) agents or liquid products from asymmetric catalysis is a convenient alternative to conventional methods of absolute structure determination, such as optical rotatory dispersion, vibrational circular dichroism, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, use of chiral shift reagents in proton NMR and Coulomb explosion imaging.

On the Optical Activity of Poly(l-lactic acid) (PLLA) Oligomers and Polymer: Detection of Multiple Cotton Effect on Thin PLLA Solid Film Loaded with Two Dyes

Optical rotatory dispersion (ORD) is a beautiful analytical technique for the study of chiral molecules and polymers. In this study, ORD was applied successfully to follow the degree of polycondensation of l-(+)-lactic acid toward the formation of poly(lactic acid) oligomers (PLAO) and high molecular weight poly(l-lactic acid) (PLLA) in a simple esterification reaction equipment. PLLA is a biodegradable polymer obtainable from renewable raw materials. The racemization of the intrinsically isotactic PLLA through thermal treatment can be easily followed through the use of ORD spectroscopy. Organic or molecular electronics is a hot topic dealing with the combination of π-conjugated organic compounds and polymers with specific properties (e.g., chirality) which can be exploited to construct optoelectronic devices, such as organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), organic photovoltaic (OPV) high efficiency cells, switchable chirality devices, organic field-effect transistors (OFETs), and so on. ORD spectroscopy was applied to study either the gigantic optical rotation of PLLA films, as well as to detect successfully the excitonic coupling, occurring in thin solid PLLA green film loaded with a combination of two dyes: SY96 (a pyrazolone dye) and PB16 (the metal-free phthalocyanine pigment). The latter compound PLLA loaded with SY96 and PB16 shows a really gigantic optical activity in addition to typical ORD signal due to exciton coupling and may be considered as a simple and easily accessible model composite of a chiral polymer matrix combined with π-conjugated dyes for molecular electronics studies.

Lignan glycosides from the stems of Viburnum melanocarpum and their α-glucosidase inhibitory activity

Two new lignan glycosides (1, 2) and four known lignan glycosides (3–6) have been isolated from the ethanolic extract of the stems of Viburnum melanocarpum through repeated column chromatography. Their structures including absolute configurations were confirmed by spectroscopic data [one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), high-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectra (HRESIMS), optical rotatory dispersion (ORD) and circular dichroism (CD)] and chemical methods. Additionally, the α-glucosidase inhibitory activity of these compounds was tested in vitro. Compound 1 exhibited the strongest inhibitory activity against α-glucosidase with a half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) value of 10.3 μM.

Assignment Through Chiroptical Methods of The Absolute Configuration of Fungal Dihydropyranpyran-4-5-Diones Phytotoxins, Potential Herbicides for Buffelgrass (Cenchrus ciliaris) Biocontrol

Radicinin and cochliotoxin (1 and 2) two phytotoxic pyranpyran-4,5-diones were isolated together with their close metabolites 3-epi-radicinin, radicinol, and its 3-epimer (3–5), from the culture filtrates of Cochliobolus australiensis, a fungus proposed as mycoherbcide for biocontrol of buffelgrass, a very noxious and dangerous weed. The absolute configuration of cochliotoxin was determined by chiroptical Optical Rotatory Dispersion (ORD), Electronic Circular Dichroism (ECD), and Vibrational Circular Dichroism (VCD)) and computational methods. The same methods were used to confirm that of radicinin, radicinol and their 3-epimers, previously determined with chemical, spectroscopic and ECD methods.