FERROCINS, NEW IRON-CONTAINING PEPTIDE ANTIBIOTICS PRODUCED BY BACTERIA

ISOLATION, CHARACTERIZATION AND STRUCTURE ELUCIDATION

Abstract

Novel iron-containing peptide antibiotics, ferrocins A, B, C and D, have been isolated from the culture nitrate of Pseudomonas fluorescens YK-310. These antibiotics were purified by butanol extraction, followed by column chromatography using adsorption resin, silica gel and preparative reverse-phase HPLC. The structures of ferrocins were elucidated using spectroscopic and degradative methods. Ferrocins contain three hydroxamate moieties per ferric ion which forms an octahedral iron complex.