The structure and absolute configuration of vibralactone (1) from the cultures of the Basidiomycete Boreostereum vibrans were established by spectroscopic methods and computational methods. Vibralactone, an unusual fused beta-lactone-type metabolite, was found to inhibit pancreatic lipase with an IC50 of 0.4 microg/mL. [structure: see text]

This review covers the structures and biological activities of peroxy natural products from a wide variety of terrestrial fungi, higher plants, and marine organisms. Syntheses that confirm or revise structures or stereochemistries have also been included, and 406 references are cited.

Six new tremulane sesquiterpenes, conocenol A-D (2-5), conocenolide A (6), and conocenolide B (7), have been isolated from cultures of the basidiomycete Conocybe siliginea. The structures of 2-7 were elucidated by the analysis of spectroscopic data, including heteronuclear multiple-bond correlation, heteronuclear single-quantum coherence, and (1)H,(1)H correlation spectroscopy, and a comparison with known analogues.