The antitumor antibiotic rebeccamycin-challenges and advanced approaches in production processes.

Rebeccamycin is an antibiotic and antitumor substance isolated from the filamentous bacterium Lentzea aerocolonigenes. After its discovery, investigations of rebeccamycin focused on elucidating its structure, biological activity, and biosynthetic pathway. For potential medical application, a sufficient drug supply has to be ensured, meaning that the production process of rebeccamycin plays a major role.

Elsinopirins A-D, Decalin Polyketides from the Ascomycete Elsinoё pyri.

In course of our screening for new secondary metabolites from ecological niche specialized, phytopathogenic fungi, the plant pathogen , strain 2203C, was found to produce four novel compounds (-), which were named elsinopirins A-D, in addition to the known metabolite elsinochrome A (). After isolation by preparative high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), their structures, including relative stereochemistry, were elucidated by 1D and 2D nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectrometry (MS) data. Finally, absolute stereochemistry was assigned by chemical shifts of Mosher's esters (α-methoxy-α-trifluoromethylphenylacetic acid; MTPA) derivatives of elsinopirin B ().