This Review provides a critical analysis of the literature
covering
the naturally occurring partially reduced perylenequinones (PQs) from
fungi without carbon substituents (which can be named class A perylenequinones)
and discusses their structures, stereochemistry, biosynthesis, and
biological activities as appropriate. Perylenequinones are natural
pigments with a perylene skeleton produced by certain fungi, aphids,
some plants, and animal species. These compounds display several biological
activities, e.g., antimicrobial, anti-HIV, photosensitizers, cytotoxic,
and phytotoxic. It describes 36 fungal PQs and cites 81 references,
covering from 1956 to August 2022.