Terrecyclic acid A, a new antibiotic from Aspergillus terreus. I. Taxonomy, production, and chemical and biological properties.

A culture of Aspergillus strain No. 14 isolated from a soil sample picked up in the farmyard of University of Osaka Prefecture was found to produce antibiotics of broad antimicrobial spectrum. The chemical investigations described in the following papery revealed that the main fraction of the antibiotics was a new antibiotic, the structure of which was a tricyclic sesquiterpene as shown in Fig. 1, and the name terrecyclic acid A was given on the basis of its producing organism and chemical structure. The present paper deals with the taxonomy of the producing organism and the fermentation, isolation, and chemical and biological characteristics of terrecyclic acid A (I).