Melifoliox B, a novel phloroglucin derivative isolated from Melicope barbigera (Rutaceae) and synthesis of new oxidation products from melifoliones A and B

• Horst Weber,
• Kim-Thao Tran-Cong,
• Bernhard Mayer,
• Guido J. Reiss,
• Iryna S. Konovalova,
• Marc S. Appelhans,
• Kenneth R. Wood and
• Claus M. Passreiter

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 535–546, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.39

• to new acetophenones and 2H-chromenes, the dichlormethane extract from leaves of Melicope barbigera A. Gray (Rutaceae) afforded a mixture of the isomeric melifoliones A (1) and B (2) as well as an oxidation product of 2, whose structure was elucidated as the para-quinol 4. For an independent

• been described in the literature. Keywords: Melicope barbigera; Melifoliones A and B; new heterocyclic ring systems; new natural compounds; para-quinols; phenol oxidation; Introduction The genus Melicope is a member of the Rutaceae (Citrus family) and contains more than 200 species distributed in the

• isolated from a dichloromethane extract of leaves of Melicope barbigera A. Gray, a species endemic to the island of Kaua’i, Hawaiian Islands [2][3]. In addition, small amounts of two tetracyclic citrans were identified as a 30:70%-mixture of isomeric melifoliones A (1), and melifolione B (2) [1], both