Karrikins are butenolides derived from burnt vegetation that stimulate seed germination and enhance seedling responses to light. Strigolactones are endogenous butenolide hormones that regulate shoot and root architecture, and stimulate the branching of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Thus, karrikins and strigolactones are structurally similar but physiologically distinct plant growth regulators. ...

Four water-soluble Fusarium metabolites (fumonisin B1, fusaric acid, butenolide and moniliformin), water-insoluble pigment (8-O-methylbostrycoidin), and an Alternaria metabolite (AAL-toxin) were tested for relative cytotoxicity to five established mammalian cell lines. Butenolide was the most cytotoxic to all five cell lines. LC50s were; 1 microgram/ml to rat hepatoma (RH) (tumors derived from ...

Hallucinations are a common non-motor symptom of Parkinson's disease and various forms of dementias. Yokukansan and Yokukansankachimpihange have attracted attention due to their effectiveness in the treatment of hallucinations of dementia. To clarify which component in these formulas contribute to the effects, at first, we focused on their differences in compositions to examine the pharmacologi...

BACKGROUND 1,2,4-Triazole derivatives have received much attention due to their versatile biological properties including antibacterial, antifungal, anticonvulsant, antiinflammatory, anticancer, and antiproliferative properties. 1,2,4-Triazole nucleus has been incorporated into a wide variety of therapeutically interesting molecules to transform them into better drugs. Schiff bases of 1,2,4-tri...

Genetic studies in Arabidopsis implicate an α/β-hydrolase, KARRIKIN-INSENSITIVE 2 (KAI2) as a receptor for karrikins, germination-promoting butenolide small molecules found in the smoke of burned plants. However, direct biochemical evidence for the interaction between KAI2 and karrikin and for the mechanism of downstream signaling by a KAI2-karrikin complex remain elusive. We report crystallogr...

Biofouling causes huge economic loss and a recent global ban on organotin compounds as antifouling agents has increased the need for safe and effective antifouling compounds. Five structurally similar compounds were isolated from the crude extract of a marine Streptomyces strain obtained from deep-sea sediments. Antifouling activities of these five compounds and four other structurally-related ...

A new butenolide derivative (1), along with three known compounds (2-4) were isolated from the MeOH extract of brown alga Sargassum micracanthum. The structures 1 to 4 determined by analyses 1D and 2D NMR mass spectroscopic data. identified as (5 E,10 Z)-6,10,14-trimethylpentadeca-5,10-dien-2,12-dione (2), E,9 E)-6,10,14-trimethylpentadeca-5,9-dien-2,12-dione (3), (-)-loliolide (4) comparing th...

The natural product hybrids quinone-mucocin and quinone- squamocin D were synthesized. In these hybrids, the butenolide unit of the annonaceous acetogenins mucocin and squamocin D is exchanged for the quinone moiety of the natural complex I substrate ubiquinone. For both syntheses, a modular, highly convergent approach was applied. Quinone-mucocin was constructed out of a tetrahydropyran (THP) ...