Benzo[ j ]fluoranthene-Derived Natural Products.

In this overview the literature on benzo[ j ]fluoranthene-derived toxins produced by fungi is discussed with a view on isolation, structure, biological activities, biosynthesis, and total syntheses of the natural products. This class of compounds consists until now of 33 naturally occurring compounds, where 25 are chiral and eight contain no stereogenic centers. The relative configuration of xylarenol was clarified by comparison of experimental and calculated ECD spectra, and absolute configurations of four toxins were corrected. The compounds show various biological activities including antibiotic and cytotoxic properties.