Bioassay-guided fractionation of two marine cyanobacterial extracts using the H-460 human
lung cancer cell line and the OVC-5 human
ovarian cancer cell line led to the isolation of three related α-methoxy-β, β'-dimethyl-γ-
pyrones each containing a modified alkyl chain, one of which was identified as the previously reported
kalkipyrone and designated
kalkipyrone A. The second compound was an analog designated
kalkipyrone B. The third was identified as the recently reported
yoshinone A, also isolated from a marine cyanobacterium.
Kalkipyrone A and B were obtained from a field-collection of the cyanobacterium Leptolyngbya sp. from Fagasa Bay, American Samoa, while
yoshinone A was isolated from a field-collection of cyanobacteria (cf. Schizothrix sp.) from Panama. One-dimensional and two-dimensional NMR experiments were used to determine the overall structures and relative configurations of the kalkipyrones, and the absolute configuration of
kalkipyrone B was determined by (1)H NMR analysis of diastereomeric Mosher's
esters.
Kalkipyrone A showed good cytotoxicity to H-460 human
lung cancer cells (EC50=0.9μM), while
kalkipyrone B and
yoshinone A were less active (EC50=9.0μM and >10μM, respectively). Both
kalkipyrone A and B showed moderate toxicity to Saccharomyces cerevisiae ABC16-Monster strain (IC50=14.6 and 13.4μM, respectively), whereas
yoshinone A was of low toxicity to this yeast strain (IC50=63.8μM).