Corymbiferan lactones from Penicillium hordei: stimulation of novel phenolic metabolites using plant tissue media.

Cultivation of a strain of Penicillium hordei on macerated tulip tissue agar resulted in the stimulated production of a series of four novel hydroxymethyl naphthalene carboxylic acid lactones from the fungus. The naphthalene derivatives were isolated using a combination of vacuum liquid chromatography and preparative HPLC. Their structures were determined by 1D and 2D NMR techniques in conjunction with high-resolution electrospray mass spectrometry (HRESIMS). These metabolites were given the trivial names corymbiferan lactones A-D (1-4).