In a study published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, researchers appear to have discovered a way to produce a true structure of the rare but naturally-occurring anti-HIV compound Lancilactone C from start to finish.
Its non-cytotoxicity in mammals could make this triterpenoid an ideal candidate for treating AIDS if its biological activity were clear—and if it were abundant in nature.
Now, a research group at Kyoto University has succeeded in creating a domino-like synthesis of Lancilactone C’s unique seven-membered ring structure.
“Our synthetic method revealed that the proposed structure of Lancilactone C was initially incorrect,” says Chihiro Tsukano of Kyoto University’s Graduate School of Agriculture. “But we successfully derived its