Study on the biosynthesis of the notoamides: pinacol-type rearrangement of the isoprenyl unit in deoxybrevianamide E and 6-hydroxydeoxybrevianamide E

Two reverse-prenylated indole alkaloids, deoxybrevianamide E and 6-hydroxydeoxybrevianamide E, are proposed as biosynthetic precursors for advanced metabolites isolated from the marine-derived Aspergillus sp. In order to uncover the role of the alkaloids in the biosynthetic pathway, the feeding experiments of the [13C]2-[15N]-labeled deoxybrevianamide E and 6-hydroxydeoxybrevianamide E were performed to afford the metabolites, which were produced by oxidation and successive pinacol-type rearrangement of the isoprenyl units.