Axisothiocyanates

The first marine isocyano metabolite was appropriately named axisonitrile-1 (1) based on the trivial name isonitrile and the genus of the sponge, Axinella cannabina, which also furnished axisothiocyanate-1 (2) [1] and, subsequently, a minor constituent, axamide-1 (3) [5]. This observation that isonitriles are often accompanied by isothiocyanates (-N=C=S) and formamides (-NHCHO) was later duplicated by the Hawaiian researchers working with a Halichondria sp. In... 

Axisonitrile-1 (1) and axisothiocyanate-1 (2) were the first pair of NC/NCS compounds isolated from Axinella cannabina, see Introduction [1]. That both compounds possessed a new skeleton was evident, when 1 was reduced (Li/EtNH2) to axane (6). Other transformations involving the exocyclic methylene which survived selective reduction (Na/NH3) of 1, coupled with evaluation of the lHNMR data, supported its gross structure. Confirmation of 2 was secured when 1 was heated with sulfur and the resultant purified product found to be identical to the natural product. 

Further examination of the extracts of A. cannabina revealed axisonitrile-4 (7), axisothiocyanate-4 (8) and axamide-4 (9) [33], A vinylic isonitrile function was supported by H NMR signals at <51.67 and 1.89, which were assigned to the two isopropylidene methyls of 7. Difficulty in isolating the natural product 9 was circumvented, when isonitrile 7 was transformed to 9, mp 81-84 °C, by acetic acid in anhydrous ether. The absolute configurations of both axanes 1 and 7 and their analogs were later established [31] by studies including X-ray diffraction of the p-bromoaniline derivative of 2 and by CD data of ( + )-10-methyldecalone-l obtained from ozonolysis of the reduction (Na/NH3) product of 1 [1]. 

Sesquiterpenoids based on the axane skeleton (354) have been reported previously as metabolites of marine sponges or algae (cf. Vol. 5, p. 77 Vol. 6, p. 89). Further investigations in this area have revealed the presence of axisonitrile-4 (355), axisothiocyanate (356), and axamide-4 (357) in the sponge Axinella cannabina. These compounds are A -derivatives of known metabolites (axisonitrile-1 etc.) of this sponge and are included in this section because their biosynthesis may involve rearrangement of a eudesmane precursor. 

Almost twenty years later, axisonitrile-3 (11) was re-isolated from the sponge Acanthella klethra Pulitzer-Finali and found to possess a potent antimalarial activity both on chloroquine-sensitive (D6, 142 ng/mL) and chloroquine-resistant (W2, 17 ng/mL) P. falciparum strains, with an activity ten times higher on the chloroquine-resistant one [32]. The closely related axisothiocyanate-3 (12) was practically inactive, giving the first suggestion that the antiplasmodial activity should not (or, at least, not only) be ascribed to structural features of the carbon backbone but should be strictly dependent from the presence of the isonitrile functional group. Interestingly, axisonitrile-3 was found to be practically not cytotoxic toward KB cells. 

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