Furanolactone Explained

A furanolactone is a heterocyclic chemical compound that contains both lactone and furan rings in its chemical structure.

Examples include:

• The salvinorins,^[1] including the hallucinogenic compound salvinorin A
• Columbin, a bitter diterpenoid from Calumbae Radix^{[2] [3]}
• Limonoids such as limonin, nomilin, and nomilinic acid
• Tinosporide, a diterpenoid originally isolated from Tinospora cordifolia^[4]

Notes and References

1. Harding WW, Schmidt M, Tidgewell K, Kannan P, Holden KG, Dersch CM, Rothman RB, Prisinzano TE . 2006 . Synthetic studies of neoclerodane diterpenes from Salvia divinorum: selective modification of the furan ring . Bioorg Med Chem Lett . 16 . 12 . 3170–4 . 10.1016/j.bmcl.2006.03.062.
2. Kohno H, Maeda M, Tanino M, Tsukio Y, Ueda N, Wada K, Sugie S, Mori H, Tanaka T . 2002 . A bitter diterpenoid furanolactone columbin from Calumbae Radix inhibits azoxymethane-induced rat colon carcinogenesis . Cancer Lett . 183 . 2 . 131–139 . 10.1016/s0304-3835(02)00159-3.
3. Swaminathan K, Sinha UC, Ramakumar S, Bhatt RK, Sabata BK . 1989 . Structure of columbin, a diterpenoid furanolactone from Tinospora cordifolia Miers . Acta Crystallogr C . 45 . Pt 2 . 300–303 . 10.1107/s0108270188010583.
4. 2610955 . 1989 . Swaminathan . K. . Sinha . U. C. . Bhatt . R. K. . Sabata . B. K. . Tavale . S. S. . Structure of tinosporide, a diterpenoid furanolactone from Tinospora cordifolia Miers . Acta Crystallographica Section C . 45 . 1 . 134–136 . 10.1107/s0108270188009953 . 1989AcCrC..45..134S .