Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The World Health Organisation predicts that by the year 2050, 10 million people could die annually as a result of infections caused by multidrug resistant bacteria. Individuals with compromised immune systems, caused by underlying disease such as HIV, MTB and COVID-19, are at a greater risk. Antibacterial resistance is a global concern that demands the discovery of novel drugs. Natural products, used since ancient times to treat diseases, are the most successful source of new drug candidates with bioactivities including antibiotic, antifungal, anticancer, antiviral, immunosuppressive, anti-inflammatory and biofilm inhibition. Marine bioprospecting has contributed significantly to the discovery of novel bioactive NPs with unique structures and biological activities, superior to that of compounds from terrestrial origin. Marine invertebrate symbionts are particularly promising sources of marine NPs as the competition between microorganisms associated with invertebrates for space and nutrients is the driving force behind the production of antibiotics, which also constitute pharmaceutically relevant natural products.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / bioassay guided isolation approach was then used to isolate the high molecular weight antibacterial compound (50kDa-100kDa) from T. actiniarum fermentations. With common protein isolation, purification and detection methods failing to provide insight into the nature of the antibacterial compound, we hypothesized that the active agent is not proteinaceous in nature and may be a high molecular weight exopolysaccharide. Extraction and antibacterial screening of the exopolysaccharide fraction from T. actiniarum showed antibacterial activity as well as lytic activity when subjected to a zymography assay using Pseudomonas putida whole cells as a substrate. Additionally, the biosynthetic pathways for the production of poly-β-1, 6-N-acetyl-glucosamine (PNAG), an exopolysaccharide involved in biofilm formation and chondroitin sulfate, a known and industrially important glycosaminoglycan with antibacterial and anti-inflammatory activity was identified and the mechanism may be novel. Genome mining identified a variety of novel secondary metabolite gene clusters which could potentially encode other novel bioactivities. Therefore a bioassay guided isolation, focused on the small (<3kDa) molecules, was pursued. Secondary metabolites were extracted, fractionated and screened for biofilm inhibition, antibacterial and anticancer activity and activity was observed in all assays. Active fractions were dereplicated by UHPLC-QToF-MS and compounds of interest were isolated using mass guided preparative HPLC. The purity of the isolated compounds was assessed using UHPLC-QToF-MS and NMR and the structure of the target compounds elucidated. Structures that could be determined were the bile acids cholic acid and 3-oxo cholic acid and although not responsible for the observed activities, this is the first report of bile acid production for this genus. This is the first study investigating the bioactive potential of the strain and the first demonstrating that T. actiniarum is a promising source of potentially novel pharmaceutically relevant natural products depicted through both culture-dependent and culture-independent approaches.

A piplartina é um alcaloide natural conhecido por apresentar diversas atividades biológicas, onde se destaca a ação anticancerígena. Esse produto natural apresentou atividade seletiva frente a vários tipos de células cancerígenas, sendo assim considerado promissor para o desenvolvimento de fármacos. O conhecimento do metabolismo de produtos naturais bioativos é uma importante e necessária etapa para avaliar a eficácia e segurança dessas substâncias. Os micro-organismos são amplamente utilizados em estudos de metabolismo, uma vez que catalisam reações quimio-, régio-, e estereoespecíficas, que muitas vezes são semelhantes às catalisadas pelos seres humanos. Nesse contexto, esse trabalho teve o objetivo de estudar o metabolismo microbiano da piplartina pelos fungos endofíticos Papulaspora immersa SS13 e Penicillium crustosum VR4, de solo Mucor rouxii NRRL 1894, e de coleção comercial Cunninghamella echinulata ATCC 8688a e Beauveria bassiana ATCC 7159. Os experimentos de biotransformação foram monitorados por UPLC-DAD-MS e UPLC-DAD-MS/MS. Todos os fungos utilizados biotransformaram a piplartina, sendo que 14 substâncias majoritárias foram identificadas como produtos de biotransformação nos experimentos em pequena escala. A piplartina e seus derivados apresentaram fragmentações características em IES-EM/EM que foram explicadas utilizando cálculos computacionais. O estudo dessas fragmentações permitiu a identificação e proposição das alterações estruturais que ocorreram nos metabólitos formados. Os fungos P. crustosum VR4 e B. bassiana ATCC 7159 foram selecionados para realizar os experimentos de biotransformação em escala ampliada, pois foram capazes de formar a maior diversidade de derivados da piplartina. Cinco substâncias foram isoladas e identificadas por RMN de 1H, RMN de 13C, HMQC, HMBC, COSY e HRESIMS. Essas substâncias não tinham sido obtidas por biotransformação microbiana anteriormente, sendo que uma ainda não foi descrita na literatura. Foram identificados principalmente produtos formados a partir de reações semelhantes às do metabolismo humano de fase I, como reduções, hidroxilações e hidrólises. Dessa forma, podemos concluir que as culturas microbianas são uma ferramenta útil para estudos preliminares de metabolismo, e para obter padrões de metabólitos que podem ser formados pelo metabolismo humano. / Piplartine is a natural alkaloid recognized by its biological properties, especially the anticancer activity. This natural product showed selective activity against several cancer cells lines, thus being considered a promising hit for drug development. Studies of bioactive natural products metabolism are an important and necessary step for the evaluation of their efficacy and safety. Microorganisms have been widely employed in metabolism studies, since they may catalyze chemo-, regio- and stereospecific reactions that are similar to human metabolism. This work aimed to study the microbial metabolism of piplartine by different fungal strains: the endophytes Penicillium crustosum VR4 and Papulaspora immersa SS13, the soil strain Mucor rouxii NRRL 1894, and the commercial collection strains Cunninghamella echinulata ATCC 8688a and Beauveria bassiana ATCC 7159. Biotransformation experiments were monitored by UPLC-DAD-MS and UPLC-DADMS/ MS. All the screened fungi were able to biotransform piplartine, and 14 compounds were identified as major biotransformation products in the small scale experiments. Piplartine and its derivatives showed characteristics fragmentations on ESI-MS/MS, which were explained using computer calculations. These fragmentation studies allowed the identification and structural proposition of piplartine metabolites. The fungi P. crustosum VR4 and B. bassiana ATCC 7159 were selected to perform the large scale biotransformation experiments, since they were capable to produce a large diversity of piplartine derivatives. Five compounds were isolated and identified by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, HMQC, HMBC, COSY and HRESIMS data. The isolated products had never been previously identified by microbial biotransformation, and one of them was found to be novel in the literature. All the identified and isolated compounds have been produced by reactions similar to those that occur in phase I of human metabolism, such as reduction, hydroxylation and hydrolysis reactions. Thus, we can conclude that the microbial cultures are useful tools for preliminary metabolism studies, and to obtain chemical standards similar to those produced by human metabolism

Furanoeliangolidos são produtos naturais bioativos com peculiar estrutura macrocíclica. A síntese orgânica destes compostos tem despertado grande interesse por parte de vários pesquisadores. Particularmente, há alguns anos, o nosso grupo de pesquisa vem se dedicando, entre outras atividades, ao estudo de métodos sintéticos para a preparação do esqueleto estrutural dos furanoeliangolidos, mais especificamente do goiazensolido. A estrutura simplificada deste produto natural corresponde a um sistema 7-oxabiciclo[6.2.1]undecano. Este produto natural possui as seguintes atividades biológicas: esquistossomicida, citotóxica e antiinflamatória. Nossa metodologia utiliza, como etapa chave, a reação de Diels-Alder. Após a preparação do sistema policíclico, a clivagem da ligação interna dos anéis poderia fornecer o macrociclo desejado. Neste trabalho, foram estudadas três rotas sintéticas para preparação do núcleo básico dos furanoeliangolidos. Na proposta sintética inicial, a reação de Diels-Alder realizada entre o 2-metil-furano e o 3-bromopropiolato de metila, apresentou um aspecto surpreendente, uma alta regiosselevidade. A reação de anelação para formação do sistema policíclico foi investigada com três compostos diferentes. Todavia, nenhuma destas reações forneceu o produto desejado, mas sim resultaram em misturas complexas de produtos. Estes resultados revelaram a dificuldade em se realizar reações de anelação em compostos deste tipo. Outros substratos poderiam ser usados, mas considerando esses resultados insatisfatórios, nós preferimos iniciar o estudo de uma nova rota sintética. Na segunda rota, tentamos introduzir um grupo contendo três carbonos para formar o anel de seis membros, a partir de modificação na parte ?superior? da molécula (éster metílico). O aldeído intermediário pôde ser obtido com bom rendimento, mas o produto resultante da condensação aldólica deste composto com a acetona, é muito instável. A hidrólise de cetais deste tipo, conforme verificamos em experimentos com um cetal mais simples, requer tratamento com ácido forte. O produto obtido da reação aldólica, portanto não poderia resistir a essas condições, então abandonamos a rota. Na terceira rota sintética, a metodologia consistiu na construção do sistema policíclico através de duas reações de Diels-Alder e utilizando uma reação de ozonólise para clivar a dupla ligação central. A estereoquímica do aduto obtido na segunda reação de Diels-Alder foi confirmada por estudos de RMN. A ozonólise deste composto deu origem ao macrociclo desejado, contendo o núcleo estrutural dos furanoeliangolidos. Como o grupo imida presente neste macrociclo é muito resistente à hidrólise e outras reações, nós também desenvolvemos uma modificação que produz um produto mais tratável. O dieno utilizado nesta segunda reação de Diels-Alder não fornece aduto com anidrido maleico, mas ele reage bem com o acetilenodicarboxilato de dimetila dando o aduto correspondente. As duas duplas ligações deste composto são suficientemente diferentes uma da outra para permitir a ozonólise seletiva da dupla ligação central, mais nucleofílica. Nesta última rota sintética, dois macrociclos foram preparados em sete etapas, envolvendo duas reações de Diels-Alder, com rendimento total de 36,3% e 42,1%, respectivamente. / Furanoheliangolides are bioactive natural products containing a peculiar macrocyclic structure. The synthesis of these compounds has been a matter of considerable interest to several researchers. In the last few years, our research group has dedicated some efforts to develop synthetic methods for the preparation of the core structure of the furanoheliangolides, particularly goyazensolide. The core structure of this natural product corresponds to the 7- oxabicyclo[6.2.1]undecane system. This natural product has several biological activities, such as schistosomicidal, cytotoxic and anti-inflammatory. Our methodology uses, as a key step, the Diels-Alder reaction. After the preparation of the polycyclic system, the cleavage of the internal bond of the rings should furnish the desired macrocycle. In this work, three synthetic routes to the preparation of the core structure of the furanoheliangolides were studied. In the first route, the Diels-Alder reaction between 2-methylfuran and methyl 3-bromopropiolate, occurred with unusually high regioselectivity The cyclization reaction for the formation of the polycyclic system was investigated with three different compounds. However, none of these reactions furnished the desired product, but resulted instead in complex mixtures of products. These results showed the difficulty to perform cyclization reactions in compounds of this type. Other substrates could have been used, but considering these discouraging initial results, we preferred to start the studies of a new synthetic route. In the second route we were still attempting to introduce a three-carbon group to form the new six-membered ring; the main modification was that we would now start from the other side of the molecule. The aldehyde could be obtained in good yield, but the aldol reaction product of this aldehyde with the ketone is very unstable. As we have found in experiments with a simple ketal, the hydrolysis of ketals of this type require rather strong acidic treatment. Therefore, the aldol product would not withstand these conditions, so we abandoned these studies. In the third synthetic route, the methodology consisted of building the polycyclic system through two Diels-Alder reactions followed by an ozonolysis reaction to cleave the central double bond. The stereochemistry of the addut obtained in the second Diels-Alder reaction was confirmed by NMR studies. The ozonolysis of this product produced the desired core of the furanoheliangolides. As the imide group of this macrocycle is very resistant to hydrolysis and other reactions, we have also developed a modification that produces a more treatable product. The diene used in this second Diels-Alder reaction does not give Diels-Alder adduct with maleic anhydride, but it reacts well with dimethyl acetylenedicarboxylate to give correspondent addut. The two double bonds of this addut are sufficiently different from each other to permit the selective ozonolysis of the more nucleophilic central bond. In this last synthetic route, two macrocycles were prepared in seven steps, involving two Diels-Alder reactions, with overall yields of 36.3% and 42.1%, respectively.

Furanoeliangolidos são produtos naturais bioativos com peculiar estrutura macrocíclica. A síntese orgânica destes compostos tem despertado grande interesse por parte de vários pesquisadores. Particularmente, há alguns anos, o nosso grupo de pesquisa vem se dedicando, entre outras atividades, ao estudo de métodos sintéticos para a preparação do esqueleto estrutural dos furanoeliangolidos, mais especificamente do goiazensolido. A estrutura simplificada deste produto natural corresponde a um sistema 7-oxabiciclo[6.2.1]undecano. Este produto natural possui as seguintes atividades biológicas: esquistossomicida, citotóxica e antiinflamatória. Nossa metodologia utiliza, como etapa chave, a reação de Diels-Alder. Após a preparação do sistema policíclico, a clivagem da ligação interna dos anéis poderia fornecer o macrociclo desejado. Neste trabalho, foram estudadas três rotas sintéticas para preparação do núcleo básico dos furanoeliangolidos. Na proposta sintética inicial, a reação de Diels-Alder realizada entre o 2-metil-furano e o 3-bromopropiolato de metila, apresentou um aspecto surpreendente, uma alta regiosselevidade. A reação de anelação para formação do sistema policíclico foi investigada com três compostos diferentes. Todavia, nenhuma destas reações forneceu o produto desejado, mas sim resultaram em misturas complexas de produtos. Estes resultados revelaram a dificuldade em se realizar reações de anelação em compostos deste tipo. Outros substratos poderiam ser usados, mas considerando esses resultados insatisfatórios, nós preferimos iniciar o estudo de uma nova rota sintética. Na segunda rota, tentamos introduzir um grupo contendo três carbonos para formar o anel de seis membros, a partir de modificação na parte ?superior? da molécula (éster metílico). O aldeído intermediário pôde ser obtido com bom rendimento, mas o produto resultante da condensação aldólica deste composto com a acetona, é muito instável. A hidrólise de cetais deste tipo, conforme verificamos em experimentos com um cetal mais simples, requer tratamento com ácido forte. O produto obtido da reação aldólica, portanto não poderia resistir a essas condições, então abandonamos a rota. Na terceira rota sintética, a metodologia consistiu na construção do sistema policíclico através de duas reações de Diels-Alder e utilizando uma reação de ozonólise para clivar a dupla ligação central. A estereoquímica do aduto obtido na segunda reação de Diels-Alder foi confirmada por estudos de RMN. A ozonólise deste composto deu origem ao macrociclo desejado, contendo o núcleo estrutural dos furanoeliangolidos. Como o grupo imida presente neste macrociclo é muito resistente à hidrólise e outras reações, nós também desenvolvemos uma modificação que produz um produto mais tratável. O dieno utilizado nesta segunda reação de Diels-Alder não fornece aduto com anidrido maleico, mas ele reage bem com o acetilenodicarboxilato de dimetila dando o aduto correspondente. As duas duplas ligações deste composto são suficientemente diferentes uma da outra para permitir a ozonólise seletiva da dupla ligação central, mais nucleofílica. Nesta última rota sintética, dois macrociclos foram preparados em sete etapas, envolvendo duas reações de Diels-Alder, com rendimento total de 36,3% e 42,1%, respectivamente. / Furanoheliangolides are bioactive natural products containing a peculiar macrocyclic structure. The synthesis of these compounds has been a matter of considerable interest to several researchers. In the last few years, our research group has dedicated some efforts to develop synthetic methods for the preparation of the core structure of the furanoheliangolides, particularly goyazensolide. The core structure of this natural product corresponds to the 7- oxabicyclo[6.2.1]undecane system. This natural product has several biological activities, such as schistosomicidal, cytotoxic and anti-inflammatory. Our methodology uses, as a key step, the Diels-Alder reaction. After the preparation of the polycyclic system, the cleavage of the internal bond of the rings should furnish the desired macrocycle. In this work, three synthetic routes to the preparation of the core structure of the furanoheliangolides were studied. In the first route, the Diels-Alder reaction between 2-methylfuran and methyl 3-bromopropiolate, occurred with unusually high regioselectivity The cyclization reaction for the formation of the polycyclic system was investigated with three different compounds. However, none of these reactions furnished the desired product, but resulted instead in complex mixtures of products. These results showed the difficulty to perform cyclization reactions in compounds of this type. Other substrates could have been used, but considering these discouraging initial results, we preferred to start the studies of a new synthetic route. In the second route we were still attempting to introduce a three-carbon group to form the new six-membered ring; the main modification was that we would now start from the other side of the molecule. The aldehyde could be obtained in good yield, but the aldol reaction product of this aldehyde with the ketone is very unstable. As we have found in experiments with a simple ketal, the hydrolysis of ketals of this type require rather strong acidic treatment. Therefore, the aldol product would not withstand these conditions, so we abandoned these studies. In the third synthetic route, the methodology consisted of building the polycyclic system through two Diels-Alder reactions followed by an ozonolysis reaction to cleave the central double bond. The stereochemistry of the addut obtained in the second Diels-Alder reaction was confirmed by NMR studies. The ozonolysis of this product produced the desired core of the furanoheliangolides. As the imide group of this macrocycle is very resistant to hydrolysis and other reactions, we have also developed a modification that produces a more treatable product. The diene used in this second Diels-Alder reaction does not give Diels-Alder adduct with maleic anhydride, but it reacts well with dimethyl acetylenedicarboxylate to give correspondent addut. The two double bonds of this addut are sufficiently different from each other to permit the selective ozonolysis of the more nucleophilic central bond. In this last synthetic route, two macrocycles were prepared in seven steps, involving two Diels-Alder reactions, with overall yields of 36.3% and 42.1%, respectively.

A piplartina é um alcaloide natural conhecido por apresentar diversas atividades biológicas, onde se destaca a ação anticancerígena. Esse produto natural apresentou atividade seletiva frente a vários tipos de células cancerígenas, sendo assim considerado promissor para o desenvolvimento de fármacos. O conhecimento do metabolismo de produtos naturais bioativos é uma importante e necessária etapa para avaliar a eficácia e segurança dessas substâncias. Os micro-organismos são amplamente utilizados em estudos de metabolismo, uma vez que catalisam reações quimio-, régio-, e estereoespecíficas, que muitas vezes são semelhantes às catalisadas pelos seres humanos. Nesse contexto, esse trabalho teve o objetivo de estudar o metabolismo microbiano da piplartina pelos fungos endofíticos Papulaspora immersa SS13 e Penicillium crustosum VR4, de solo Mucor rouxii NRRL 1894, e de coleção comercial Cunninghamella echinulata ATCC 8688a e Beauveria bassiana ATCC 7159. Os experimentos de biotransformação foram monitorados por UPLC-DAD-MS e UPLC-DAD-MS/MS. Todos os fungos utilizados biotransformaram a piplartina, sendo que 14 substâncias majoritárias foram identificadas como produtos de biotransformação nos experimentos em pequena escala. A piplartina e seus derivados apresentaram fragmentações características em IES-EM/EM que foram explicadas utilizando cálculos computacionais. O estudo dessas fragmentações permitiu a identificação e proposição das alterações estruturais que ocorreram nos metabólitos formados. Os fungos P. crustosum VR4 e B. bassiana ATCC 7159 foram selecionados para realizar os experimentos de biotransformação em escala ampliada, pois foram capazes de formar a maior diversidade de derivados da piplartina. Cinco substâncias foram isoladas e identificadas por RMN de 1H, RMN de 13C, HMQC, HMBC, COSY e HRESIMS. Essas substâncias não tinham sido obtidas por biotransformação microbiana anteriormente, sendo que uma ainda não foi descrita na literatura. Foram identificados principalmente produtos formados a partir de reações semelhantes às do metabolismo humano de fase I, como reduções, hidroxilações e hidrólises. Dessa forma, podemos concluir que as culturas microbianas são uma ferramenta útil para estudos preliminares de metabolismo, e para obter padrões de metabólitos que podem ser formados pelo metabolismo humano. / Piplartine is a natural alkaloid recognized by its biological properties, especially the anticancer activity. This natural product showed selective activity against several cancer cells lines, thus being considered a promising hit for drug development. Studies of bioactive natural products metabolism are an important and necessary step for the evaluation of their efficacy and safety. Microorganisms have been widely employed in metabolism studies, since they may catalyze chemo-, regio- and stereospecific reactions that are similar to human metabolism. This work aimed to study the microbial metabolism of piplartine by different fungal strains: the endophytes Penicillium crustosum VR4 and Papulaspora immersa SS13, the soil strain Mucor rouxii NRRL 1894, and the commercial collection strains Cunninghamella echinulata ATCC 8688a and Beauveria bassiana ATCC 7159. Biotransformation experiments were monitored by UPLC-DAD-MS and UPLC-DADMS/ MS. All the screened fungi were able to biotransform piplartine, and 14 compounds were identified as major biotransformation products in the small scale experiments. Piplartine and its derivatives showed characteristics fragmentations on ESI-MS/MS, which were explained using computer calculations. These fragmentation studies allowed the identification and structural proposition of piplartine metabolites. The fungi P. crustosum VR4 and B. bassiana ATCC 7159 were selected to perform the large scale biotransformation experiments, since they were capable to produce a large diversity of piplartine derivatives. Five compounds were isolated and identified by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, HMQC, HMBC, COSY and HRESIMS data. The isolated products had never been previously identified by microbial biotransformation, and one of them was found to be novel in the literature. All the identified and isolated compounds have been produced by reactions similar to those that occur in phase I of human metabolism, such as reduction, hydroxylation and hydrolysis reactions. Thus, we can conclude that the microbial cultures are useful tools for preliminary metabolism studies, and to obtain chemical standards similar to those produced by human metabolism

Natural product synthesis is one of the most creative branch of chemistry in terms of its boundless scope for innovation and has stimulated several generations of synthetic organic chemists. With advancement in the technology, particularly in the isolation and purification techniques, high-field NMR and X-ray crystallography, it has become fairly routine to isolate and assign the structures, high-field NMR and X-ray crystallography, it has become fairly routine to isolate and assign the structures, even to those complex molecules, which are available only in microscopic quantities from natural sources. Concurrently, one has witnessed tremendous advances in the availability of new synthetic methodologies with high region-, stereo-, and enantiocontrol for one or multiple C-C bond formations and rapid generation of molecular complexity. These developments have rekindled interest with total synthesis of natural products as platforms for testing and validating new reactions and strategies. Many natural products exhibit wide range of biological activities and thus provide good leads in drug discovery but quite often such bioactive compounds are obtained only in minute quantities from Nature. Hence, there is need to synthesize them to obtain requisite quantities and build diversity around their scaffold to further explore their therapeutic potential. Thus, natural product synthesis combines both intellectual challenge and possible application for human wellbeing. Our research group is actively engaged in the synthesis of structurally complex, bioactive natural products and as a part of this endeavour, total syntheses of several bioactive compounds have been accomplished in our laboratory in recent past. The present thesis has also evolved around the ongoing theme directed towards natural product synthesis and is organized under three chapters. Chapter I: Total synthesis of (+)-1S-Minwanenone Chapter II: Enantioselective total synthesis of the bioactive natural product (+)-Sch 642305. Chapter III: Enantiospecific total synthesis of 6-epi-(-)-Hamigeran B.

First chapter of the thesis describes the desymmetrization of the bis-dimethyl amide 1 derived from tartaric acid with vinyl Grignard reagents and subsequent reduction of the resultant -keto amides 2a-c to the -hydroxy amides 3a-c. Application of the -hydroxy amides 3a-c in the total synthesis of bio-active natural products such as gabosines, crassalactone C and anamarine is described in the subsequent sections. In section A of the first chapter, application of the -hydroxy amides 3a-b to the total synthesis of gabosine A 4, gabosine F 5 and gabosine H 6 was described. Key strategy in the synthesis was the use of ring closing metathesis (RCM) reaction. Incidentally, the total synthesis of gabosine H 6 was not only accomplished for the first time but the synthesis also ascertained the absolute stereochemistry of the natural product. During the course of the synthesis of gabosine A 4, an unprecedented formation of a unique 14-membered macrocycle 7 was observed. Incisive studies were conducted to elucidate the reaction sequence for the formation of the macrocyle 7. It was found that the formation of the macrocycle 7 was through a tandem cross-metathesis/intramolecular hetero Diels-Alder reaction. Section B of chapter 1 delineated the utility of the -hydroxy amide 3a in the total synthesis of (–)-crassalactone C 8a. Crassalactone C 8a is a cinnamoyl derivative of styryllactone natural product goniofufurone and was found to possess marginal in vitro cytotoxic activity. Pivotal strategies in the synthesis include the use of bis-cinnamoyl ester 10a in the ring closing metathesis reaction which also evades the selective cinnamoylation of the benzylic hydroxy group. Section C of Chapter 1 deals with the total synthesis of (+)-anamarine 11. While the - hydroxy amide 3a was employed to synthesize an important intermediate 12 enroute to the synthesis of anamarine, to mitigate the number of steps in the synthesis, the -hydroxy amide 13 was employed for the synthesis of (+)-anamarine 11. Key reactions in the total synthesis include the use of 1,3-dithiane as a surrogate for the methyl group, Brown’s allylation and ring closing metathesis. In second chapter of the thesis, formal total synthesis of iriomoteolide 3a 16 is presented. Iriomoteolide 3a 16 is a unique 15-membered marine macrolide isolated by Tusda’s group from the Amphidinium strain HYA024, with impressive in vitro cytotoxic activity against human lymphoma cell line DG-75 (IC50 0.08 g/mL) and Raji cells (IC50 0.05 g/mL). Salient features of the synthesis include the synthesis of the chiral aldehyde 19 from the oxazolidinone 17 and the use of -keto phosphonate 20 derived from D-(–)-tartaric acid in the Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons olefination reaction to construct the C1-C10 fragment 23 of iriomoteolide 3a 16. Synthesis of the C10-C18 fragment 29 was accomplished from the butyrolactone 24 using Keck allylation and olefin cross metathesis reactions as key steps. Ring closing metathesis of the ester 30, followed by selective deprotection of the primary TBS group afforded the key intermediate 31, the transformation of which to iriomoteolide 3a 16 is known in literature.

This thesis is an investigation of the natural products deriving from marine algae and cyanobacteria and has resulted in the discovery of eleven new secondary metabolites. The structure elucidations of these new molecules were performed using a variety of spectroscopic techniques. Four new macrolides were isolated and characterized from the Madagascar marine cyanobacterium Geitlerinema sp. These ankaraholides are structurally similar to the potently cytotoxic swinholides and were found to have cytotoxicities ranging from 178 nM to 354 nM against human lung cancer (NCI-H460) and mouse neuro-2a cell lines. Since swinholide-type compounds were previously localized to the heterotrophic bacteria of sponges, these findings raise intriguing questions about their true metabolic source. Geitlerinema sp. was found to be particularly rich in chemistry, and also produced the new linear lipopeptide mitsoamide with unusual structural features including an aminal moiety, a homolysine residue and a polyketide unit (3,7- dimethoxy-5-methyl- nonanedioic acid) (DMNA). A collection of the red marine alga Portieria hornemannii from the south of Madagascar (Tolagniaro, Fort Dauphin), led to the isolation of the previously reported halogenated monoterpene, halomon, and the discovery of three new related metabolites. These molecules were found to inhibit DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT-1). As a result of efforts to identify bioactive agents from the marine cyanobacterium Lyngbya majuscula, tanikolide dimer, a novel SIRT2 inhibitor (IC50 = 176 nM), and tanikolide seco-acid were isolated. The depside molecular structure of tanikolide dimer, which is likely a meso compound, was established by NMR, MS and chiral HPLC analyses. The structure of tanikolide dimer raises a number of intriguing configurational and biosynthetic questions for further study. The bioassay guided fractionation of a collection of the brown marine alga Dictyota sp. from Netherland Antilles Playa Fort, led to the identification of a novel HDAC inhibitor with a dolastane carbon skeleton. The novel molecule was also found to possess antimalarial activity. Other known HDAC inhibitors with interesting antimalarial activity have been reported previously, and based on this efficacy against malaria, HDAC appears to be a viable target for the development of antiparasitic agents. / Graduation date: 2006