Azaphilone pigments from a yellow mutant of the fungus Monascus kaoliang

Azaphilone pigments, monascusones A (1) and B (2), together with two known azaphilones, monascin (3) and FK17-P2b2 (4), were isolated from the CH2Cl2 extract of a yellow mutant of the fungus M. kaoliang grown on rice. Structures of the isolated compounds were elucidated by analyses of spectroscopic data. Monascusone A (1), the major metabolite of M. kaoliang, showed no antimalarial (against Plasmodium falciparum), antitubercular (against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Ra), and antifungal (toward Candida albicans) activities. Compound I exhibited no cytotoxicity against BC (breast cancer) and KB (human epidermoid carcinoma of cavity) cell lines. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.