Saliniquinones A-F, New Members of the Highly Cytotoxic Anthraquinone-γ-Pyrones from the Marine Actinomycete Salinispora arenicola.

Six new anthraquinone-γ-pyrones, saliniquinones A-F (1-6), which are related to metabolites of the pluramycin/altromycin class, were isolated from a fermentation broth of the marine actinomycete Salinispora arenicola (strain CNS-325). Their structures were determined by analysis of one- and two-dimensional NMR spectroscopic and high-resolution mass spectrometric data. The relative and absolute configurations of compounds 1-6 were determined by analysis of NOESY NMR spectroscopic data and by comparison of circular dichroism and optical rotation data with model compounds found in the literature. Saliniquinone A (1) exhibited potent inhibition of the human colon adenocarcinoma cell line (HCT-116) with an IC(50) of 9.9 × 10(-9) M. In the context of the biosynthetic diversity of S. arenicola, compounds 1-6 represent secondary metabolites that appear to be strain specific and thus occur outside of the core group of compounds commonly observed from this species.