Artemisinin is a natural sesquiterpene lactone obtained from the Artemisia annua herb. It is widely used for the treatment of malaria. In this article, we have reviewed the role of artemisinin in controlling malaria, spread of resistance to artemisinin and the different methods used for its large scale production. The highest amount of artemisinin gene expression in tobacco leaf chloroplast lea...

Two new brominated selinane sesquiterpenes, 1-bromoselin-4(14),11-diene (1) and 9-bromoselin-4(14),11-diene (2), one known cadinane sesquiterpene, cadalene (3), and four known selinane sesquiterpenes, alpha-selinene (4), beta-selinene (5), beta-dictyopterol (6), and cyperusol C (7), were isolated from a sample of marine brown alga Dictyopteris divaricata collected off the coast of Yantai (China...

The effect of psilostachyin, a natural sesquiterpene lactone, on the growth and viability of cultured epimastigotes of Trypanosoma cruzi (Tulahuen) is reported. The antiproliferative effect was evaluated by counting the parasites in a Neubauer chamber and measuring their viability by using the dye exclusion technique. The effect on parasite growth was irreversible at concentrations higher than ...

Photooxygenation of (β-keto)-2-substituted furans leads, in a one pot operation, to functionalized 3(2H)-furanones with good to excellent yields. This methodology was applied as a key-step to the concise and biomimetic synthesis of the sesquiterpene merrekentrone C. The precursor to merrekentrone C, keto difuran, was synthesized using a cross coupling of α-iodo-3-acetylfuran with an alkenyl fur...

Five new dimeric sesquiterpene lactones, neojaponicone A (1) and japonicones M-P (2-5) were isolated from the aerial part of Inula japonica. Neojaponicone A (1) has an unprecedented carbon skeleton with an unusual valerolactone system formed between a guaianolide and an eudesmane. The structure and absolute configuration of 1 were established by extensive analysis of spectroscopic data and comp...

The epimeric sesquiterpene alcohols (14R)-beta-oplopenol and (14S)-beta-oplopenolwere obtained by LiAlH(4) reduction of beta-oplopenone. The complete (1)H- and (13)C-NMR assignments of these two new sesquiterpene alcohols have been made using 1D and 2D NMR techniques, including COSY, NOESY, HSQC, HMBC experiments.

THE TITLE STRUCTURE (SYSTEMATIC NAME: 9-hydroxy-methyl-3,6-di-methyl-3-methyl-ene-2,7-dioxo-3,3a,4,5,9a,9b-hexa-hydro-azu-leno[4,5-b]furan-4-yl acetate hemihydrate), C(17)H(20)O(6)·0.5H(2)O, from Lactuca floridana, has two independent sesquiterpene lactone mol-ecules in the asymmetric unit. Both have their seven-membered rings in the chair conformation. In the crystal, the OH groups and the wat...

The title compound, C(15)H(20)O(3), a sesquiterpene lactone, was isolated from the aerial parts of Carpesium minus Hemsl. (Compositae). The mol-ecule is composed of three rings, with the two cyclo-hexane rings in chair conformations and the cyclo-pentane ring adopting a twist conformation. The A/B ring junction is trans-fused. The absolute configuration shown has been arbitrarily assigned. In t...

Biotransformation of sesquiterpene 4beta-hydroxyeudesmane-1,6-dione by the filamentous fungi Gliocladium roseum and Exserohilum halodes was achieved. With Exserohilum halodes, only one metabolite was obtained, as a result of the regio- and stereoselective reduction of the keto group at C-1, which is difficult to achieve by chemical means. Five metabolites were produced with Gliocladium roseum, ...

One novel triterpene cycloartane-type, named hirtinone (1), six protolimonoids - nilocitin (2), dihydronilocitin B (3), melianone epimers (4) and (5), piscidinol A (6) and melianone lactone (7), one tertranortriterpenoid, hirtin (8), and one sesquiterpene, spathulenol (9), were identified in the fruits of Trichilia hirta. The structures were established by 1D and 2D NMR (1H and 13C-NMR, DEPTQ, ...