Farnesides A and B, sesquiterpenoid nucleoside ethers from a marine-derived Streptomyces sp., strain CNT-372 from Fiji.

Farnesides A and B (1, 2), linear sesquiterpenoids connected by ether links to a ribose dihydrouracil nucleoside, were isolated from a marine-derived Streptomyces sp., strain CNT-372, grown in saline liquid culture. The structures of the new compounds were assigned by comprehensive spectroscopic analysis primarily involving 1D and 2D NMR analysis and by comparison of spectroscopic data to the recently reported ribose nucleoside JBIR-68 (3). The farnesides are only the second example of this exceedingly rare class of microbial terpenoid nucleoside metabolites. Farneside A (1) was found to have modest antimalarial activity against the parasite Plasmodium falciparum.