Epipolythiodioxopiperazines from Fungi: Chemistry and Bioactivities

Abstract

Epipolythiodioxopiperazines (ETPs), characterized by a unique bridged disulfide or polysulfide dioxopiperazine six-membered ring (namely 2,5-epipolythiopepeazine-3,6- dione ring system), occur in a diversity of fungi. In recent years, ETPs drawn increasing research attentions from the field of chemistry and biological due to their broad spectra of bioactivities including antitumor, antiviral and antimicrobial activities. From this point of view, this review summarized diverse natural sources that produce ETPs, the synthetic chemistry of ETPs and an overview of promising bioactivities exhibited by some well studied ETPs. The plausible biosynthetic hypotheses of ETPs and some new results on antitumor activity of ETPs are also reviewed.

Keywords: Epipolythiodioxopiperazine, Gliotoxin, Emestrin, Sporidesmin, Aranotin, Epicorzine, Chaetocin, Verticillin, Leptosin, Sirodesmin, Bioactivities, Biosynthesis.