New seco-milbemycins from Streptomyces bingchenggensis: fermentation, isolation and structure elucidation.

Two new seco-milbemycins have been isolated and characterized from the Streptomyces bingchenggensis. On the basis of detailed spectroscopic analysis and comparison with the reported data of milbemycin beta(14), their structures were established to be the seco-milbemycins of milbemycin beta(14). However, milbemycin beta(14) and the two new seco-milbemycins were not converted to each other during purification by silica gel column or storage in the MeOH extract at room temperature. The two new seco-milbemycins are the first discovered from milbemycin-producing microorganisms. They may play an important role in understanding and perfecting the proposed biosynthesis pathways of milbemycins.