Characterization and Synthesis of Eudistidine C, a Bioactive Marine Alkaloid with an Intriguing Molecular Scaffold

An extract of Eudistoma sp. provided eudistidine C (1), a heterocyclic alkaloid with a novel molecular framework. Eudistidine C (1) is a racemic natural product composed of a tetracyclic core structure further elaborated with a p-methoxyphenyl group and a phenol-substituted aminoimidazole moiety. This compound presented significant structure elucidation challenges due to the large number of heteroatoms and fully substituted carbons. These issues were mitigated by application of a new NMR pulse sequence (LR-HSQMBC) optimized to detect four- and five-bond heteronuclear correlations and the use of computer-assisted structure elucidation software. Synthesis of eudistidine C (1) was accomplished in high yield by treating eudistidine A (2) with 4­(2-amino-1H-imidazol-5-yl)­phenol (4) in DMSO. Synthesis of eudistidine C (1) confirmed the proposed structure and provided material for further biological characterization. Treatment of 2 with various nitrogen heterocycles and electron-rich arenes provided a series of analogues (5–10) of eudistidine C. Chiral-phase HPLC resolution of epimeric eudistidine C provided (+)-(R)-eudistidine C (1a) and (−)-(S)-eudistidine C (1b). The absolute configuration of these enantiomers was assigned by ECD analysis. (−)-(S)-Eudistidine C (1b) modestly inhibited interaction between the protein binding domains of HIF-1α and p300. Compounds 1, 2, and 6–10 exhibited significant antimalarial activity against Plasmodium falciparum.