Duclauxamide
A1 (1), a new polyketide-derived heptacyclic
oligophenalenone dimer with a N-2-hydroxyethyl moiety,
was isolated from Penicillium manginii YIM PH30375.
Spectroscopic analysis, X-ray single crystal diffraction, and 13C NMR DFT calculations confirmed that compound 1 and other duclauxin analogues possess the unified S configuration at C-9′, which corrects a long-standing misrepresentation
of duclauxins as C-9′R epimers. A plausible
biosynthetic pathway for duclauxins is proposed on the basis of previous
acetate labeling results for duclauxin and sclerodin.