The fungus Penicillium sp was isolated from the root bark of Melia azedarach after surface sterilisation and cultivated for three weeks on sterilised rice. A new meroterpene, named austinoneol, and the known meroterpenes 7-b-acetoxy-dehydroaustin, neoaustin and dehydroaustin were isolated from the methanol extract of this rice culture. Their structures were identified after extensive spectroscopic studies, which also helped on the revision of ¹H and 13C chemical shift assignment for some of the known meroterpenes.
meroterpene; endophytic fungi; Penicillium; Melia azedarach; Meliaceae
