The creolophins:: A family of linear triquinanes from Creolophus cirrhatus (Basidiomycete)

Complicatic acid and five novel linear triquinanes were isolated from mycelial cultures of Creolophus cirrhatus. The creolophins A, C, D, and E represent a novel type of highly oxidized triquinane sesquiterpenoids. Whereas those compounds with a secondary alcohol moiety in ring A are stable, the exomethylene ketone creolophin E (5) partly dimerized during workup to form the decacyclic 1,4-dioxepin-6-one neocreolophin (6). Compounds 5 and 6 display cytotoxic activities against several tumor cell lines.