ABSTRACT
Marine polycyclic ether natural products are known to be the secondary metabolites of unicellular algae, mainly dinofl agellates (Yasumoto and Murata 1993, Murata and Yasumoto 2000). The fi rst member of this family of natural metabolites to be structurally elucidated was brevetoxin B (1), (Fig. 1). In 1981, Nakanishi and co-workers, using X-ray crystallographic analysis, established the extraordinary structure of brevetoxin B, which is characterized by a ladder-shaped trans-fused polycyclic ether skeleton comprised of six-, seven-, and eight-membered cyclic ethers (Lin et al. 1981). Brevetoxin B is the secondary metabolite of dinofl agellate Karenia brevis (formerly Gymnodinium breve), which is known to be responsible for the red-tide phenomenon that causes seafood poisoning and human intoxication occur along the coast of Florida and in the Gulf of Mexico. It has been postulated that the biosynthesis of brevetoxin B might involve a
Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, 2-1-1 Katahira, Aoba-ku, Sendai 9808577, Japan. Email: hfuwa@m.tohoku.ac.jp
List of abbreviations after the text.
