Verruculogen is a

mycotoxin A mycotoxin (from the Greek μύκης , "fungus" and τοξίνη , "toxin") is a toxic secondary metabolite produced by organisms of kingdom Fungi and is capable of causing disease and death in both humans and other animals. The term 'mycotoxin' ...

produced by certain strains of ''

aspergillus ' () is a genus consisting of several hundred mold species found in various climates worldwide. ''Aspergillus'' was first catalogued in 1729 by the Italian priest and biologist Pier Antonio Micheli. Viewing the fungi under a microscope, Mic ...

'' that belongs to a class of naturally occurring 2,5-diketopiperazines. It is an

annulated In organic chemistry annulation (from the Latin ''anellus'' for "little ring"; occasionally annelation) is a chemical reaction in which a new ring is constructed on a molecule. : Examples are the Robinson annulation, Danheiser annulation and cert ...

analogue of cyclo(L-Trp-L-Pro) which belongs to the most abundant and structurally diverse class of tryptophan-proline 2,5-diketopiperazine natural products. It produces tremors in mice due to its neurotoxic properties. It also tested positive in a ''Salmonella''/mammalian microsome assay and was shown to be

genotoxic Genotoxicity is the property of chemical agents that damage the genetic information within a cell causing mutations, which may lead to cancer. While genotoxicity is often confused with mutagenicity, all mutagens are genotoxic, but some genotoxic s ...

. It is a potent blocker of

calcium-activated potassium channel Calcium-activated potassium channels are potassium channels gated by calcium, or that are structurally or phylogenetically related to calcium gated channels. They were first discovered in 1958 by Gardos who saw that calcium levels inside of a cell ...

s.http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/product/sigma/v7755?lang=en®ion=US

Synthesis

Both verruculogen and its isoprenyl derivative fumitremorgin A belong to the only family of alkaloids with an eight-membered endoperoxide ring, and both have been synthesised involving ligand-controlled C–H borylation.

References

{{reflist Mycotoxins Diketopiperazines Organic peroxides Indole alkaloids