Asperienes A-D, Bioactive Sesquiterpenes from the Marine-Derived Fungus .

Marine-derived fungi of the genera could produce novel compounds with significant bioactivities. Among these fungi, the strain is notorious for its mutagenic mycotoxins production. However, some minor components with certain toxicities from have not been specifically surveyed and might have potent biological activities. Our investigation of the marine-derived fungus CF13-11 cultured in solid medium led to the isolation of four C-6'/C-7' epimeric drimane sesquiterpene esters, asperienes A-D (-). Their absolute configurations were assigned by electronic circular dichroism (ECD) and Snatzke's methods. This is the first time that two pairs of C-6'/C-7' epimeric drimane sesquiterpene esters have successfully been separated. Aperienes A-D (-) displayed potent bioactivities towards four cell lines with the IC values ranging from 1.4 to 8.3 μM. Interestingly, compounds and exhibited lower toxicities than and toward normal GES-1 cells, indicating more potential for development as an antitumor agent in the future.