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A new diphenyl ether, named neoplaether, together with five known compounds monomethylsulochrin, physcion, helvolic acid, ergosterol and ergosterol peroxide, was isolated from the culture of Neoplaconema napellum IFB-E016, an endophytic fungus residing in the healthy leaves of Hopea hainanensis. The structure of neoplaether was elucidated by a correlative interpretation of its infrared spectrometry, mass spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance spectra, and confirmed by its single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. Neoplaether exhibited significant cytotoxic activity against the human nasopharyngeal epidermoid tumor KB cell line, with an IC50 value of 13.0 μg mL−1, comparable to that of 5-fluorouracil (2.5 μg mL−1) co-assayed as a positive reference. In addition, it showed antifungal activity against Candida albicans, with a minimal inhibitory concentration value of 6.2 μg mL−1 (amphotericin as a positive control had a value of 1.5 μg mL−1). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three new cytotoxic 10,13-cyclotrichothecane-derived macrolides, myrothecines A-C (1-3), were characterized from the extracts of two Myrothecium roridum strains, IFB-E009 and IFB-E012, isolated as endophytic fungi found on the traditional Chinese medicinal plants Trachelospermum jasminoides and Artemisia annua, respectively. The absolute configuration of myrothecines A-C was elucidated by a combination of spectral techniques (UV, IR, MS, circular dichroism (CD), (1)H and (13)C NMR, DEPT, (1)H-(1)H COSY, NOESY, HMQC, and HMBC spectrascopic analyses), Mosher's ester analysis, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The absolute configuration of the reported bioactive analogue, mytoxin B was established by correlating its spectral data with that of known absolute configurational structures. Furthermore, the significance in endophytism (or symbiosis) and biocatabolism, highlighted by production of those macrolides by the endophytic strains, is discussed in brief.