Abstract:
Phenazine derivatives, a class of naturally occurring antibiotics primarily produced by bacteria, are regarded as promising scaffolds for developing new antibiotics. In this study, eight new dimeric phenazine derivatives, phenazostains K‒R (
1‒
8), along with two reported dimeric analogues, phenazostains B (
9) and C (
10), were isolated from the fermentation broth of the marine-derived
Streptomyces sp. OUCMDZ-4923. Their structures were elucidated through spectroscopic analysis, primarily using NMR and HRESIMS spectra, ECD calculations, and the modified Mosher's method. Compounds
1‒
10 feature the 12-deoxysaphenate unit linked to various sites on methyl saphenate, phenazine, or methyl phenazine-1-carboxylate. Notably, compounds
1 and
2 represent the first dimeric phenazines linked by a 12, 12'-oxy bridge. Our experimental results suggest that these dimers could be formed from methyl saphenate (
12) through a nonenzymatic pathway. Moreover, the analysis of gene roles within their biosynthetic gene cluster revealed that phenazostains
1‒
8 are formed through a nonenzymatic process. Additionally, all dimers were evaluated for their antibacterial activity; compounds
1,
3‒
5, and
9 exhibited inhibitory activities against both
Staphylococcus aureus and its methicillin-resistant strain (MRSA), with MIC values ranging from 1.56 to 25.0 μg/mL.