The first sorbicillinoid alkaloids, the antileukemic sorbicillactones A and B, from a sponge-derived Penicillium chrysogenum strain

The saltwater culture of a Penicillium chrysogenum strain isolated from the Mediterranean sponge Ircinia fasciculata yielded three new sorbicillin-derived compounds (), whose structures were elucidated mainly by 2D NMR and mass spectrometry. Among them, sorbicillactones A () and B () are the first sorbicillinoid natural products that contain nitrogen. Compound is anti-HIV active and it exhibits a strong cytotoxic activity against L5178y leukemic cells, combined with a relatively low toxicity to cervical carcinoma HeLa S3 cells and pheochromocytoma PC 12 cells. The absolute configurations of and were elucidated by quantum chemical calculation of circular dichroism (CD) spectra. Another compound isolated, sorbivinetone (), might be an artifact derived from sorbicillinol () by Diels–Alder reaction with ethyl vinyl ether. Furthermore, the known sorbicillinoid fungal metabolites oxosorbicillinol (), sorbicillin (), and bisvertinolone () were identified, as well as the alkaloids meleagrine and roquefortine C. The biosynthetic origin of sorbicillactone A () from acetate, alanine, and methionine was investigated by feeding experiments with 13C-labeled precursors.