160
L. Mammino
1 Introduction
Acylphloroglucinols (ACPLs, Fig. 1) are phloroglucinol (1,3,5-trihydroxybenzene)
derivatives characterised by the presence of a CRO group, where R is more often
an alkyl group [1]. Many ACPLs are of natural origin and exhibit a variety of biological activities [1]. Furonewguinones are prenylated ACPLs isolated from Hypericum species. They exhibit antioxidant activity in polymorphonuclear cells, and are
capable of strongly reducing oxygen production by PMNs after stimulation with
N-formyl-methionyl-leucylphenylalanine or opsonised zymosan [1–5].
The current work focuses on furonewguinone-B (Fig. 2, hereafter concisely
denoted as FNGB). The work pertains to an ongoing computational study of ACPLs
Fig. 1 General structure of
acylphloroglucinols and
atom numbering of the
acylphloroglucinol moiety
utilized in the previous works
on acylphloroglucinols
6
5
4
3
2
1
O
8
H
15
7
R
O
12
H
17
O
10
H
16
O
14
R'
R''
Fig. 2 Structure of
furonewguinone B and atom
numbering utilized in this
work. The C atoms are
denoted only by their
numbers. The H atoms not
pertaining to OH groups are
not shown
6
5
4
3
2
1
7
13
O
14
12
O
20
11
21
22
23
24
10 O
H
16
9
26
O
25
27
28
29
O
30
H
31
O
18 H
19
O
8
H
15
PHL
FUR