Endophytic fungi are a large group of microorganisms which were defined as fungi colonizing healthy plant tissue without causing overt symptoms in or apparent injury to the host. Endophytes have been proven to be a well-established source for structurally diverse and biologically active secondary metabolites.2-4) Marine mangrove plants were proven to be a rich source of endophytic fungi. Many secondary metabolites with novel structures and biological activities have been characterized from mangrove-derived endophytic fungi. [5][6][7][8] In the course of our ongoing project directed toward the discovery of new natural products from endophytic fungi that were isolated from marine organisms from the Chinese sea coasts, [9][10][11][12][13][14] we have investigated the chemical constituents of an endophytic fungal strain Eurotium rubrum that was isolated from the inner tissue of stems of the mangrove plant Hibiscus tiliaceus collected from Hainan island. This paper describes the isolation, structure elucidation, and cytotoxicity of four new (1-4) and seven known (5-11) benzaldehyde derivatives. To our knowledge, compound 1, which was named as eurotirumin, possesses a new carbon skeleton with a cyclopentabenzopyran ring system.
Results and DiscussionThe fungus E. rubrum was grown in potato-dextrose broth (PDB) media. The combined extracts from the culture broth and from the mycelium were fractionated by repeated column chromatography on silica gel, reversed-phase silica gel C 18 , and Sephadex LH-20, as well as by preparative TLC, to afford eleven metabolites (1-11).Compound 1 was obtained as a yellowish amorphous powder. The IR spectrum exhibited absorptions at 3442 (OH), 1729 (carbonyl), and 1632 cm Ϫ1 (double bond). The EI-MS of 1 displayed a molecular ion peak at m/z 316 [M] (Table 1). The 13 C-NMR spectrum of 1 exhibited 19 carbon signals attributable to three methyls, three methylenes, seven methines, and six quaternary carbon atoms according to the DEPT experiments (Table 2). Detailed comparison of 1D and 2D NMR spectral data of 1 with those of our recently reported data for chaetopyranin (5), a benzaldehyde derivative that was identi- Four new (1-4) and seven known (5-11) benzaldehyde derivatives were characterized from the liquid fermentation cultures of Eurotium rubrum, an endophytic fungus that was isolated from the inner tissue of stems of the mangrove plant Hibiscus tiliaceus. The structures of these compounds were determined by extensive analysis of their spectroscopic data. Among these metabolites, compound 1, which was named as eurotirumin, possesses a new carbon skeleton with a cyclopentabenzopyran ring system.