Pigments of Fungi. XLVIII Clavorubin from Two Australasian Toadstools of the Genus Cortinarius and the X-Ray Crystal Structure of the Methyl Ester of 6-O-Methylclavorubin

Abstract

Clavorubin (1,5,6,8-tetrahydroxy-3-methyl-9,10-dioxoanthracene-2-carboxylic acid) (1), previously known only from the ascomycetious rye fungus Claviceps purpurea (‘ergot’), has been isolated from the fruit bodies of two Australasian basidiomycetes belonging to the genus Cortinarius and characterized by spectroscopic and chemical methods. A single-crystal X-ray structure analysis of the methyl ester (4) of 6-O-methylclavorubin establishes unequivocally, for the first time, the structure of the natural product.