Structural and Synthetic Investigations of Tanikolide Dimer, a SIRT2 Selective Inhibitor, and Tanikolide seco-Acid from the Madagascar Marine Cyanobacterium Lyngbya majuscula

Tanikolide seco-acid 2 and tanikolide dimer 3, the latter a novel and selective SIRT2 inhibitor, were isolated from the Madagascar marine cyanobacterium Lyngbya majuscula. The structure of 2, isolated as the pure R enantiomer, was elucidated by X-ray experiment in conjunction with NMR and optical rotation data, whereas the depside molecular structure of 3 was initially thought to be a meso compound as established by NMR, MS, and chiral HPLC analyses. Subsequent total synthesis of the three tanikolide dimer stereoisomers 4, 5, and ent-5, followed by chiral GC−MS comparisons with the natural product, showed it to be exclusively the R,R-isomer 5. Tanikolide dimer 3 (= 5) inhibited SIRT2 with an IC₅₀ = 176 nM in one assay format and 2.4 μM in another. Stereochemical determination of symmetrical dimers such as compound 3 pose intriguing and subtle questions in structure elucidation and, as shown in the current work, are perhaps best answered in conjunction with total synthesis.