The isolation and synthesis of two novel N-acetyl glucosamine derivatives from Dictyostelium cellular slime molds which exhibit neurite outgrowth activity

To clarify the diversity of secondary metabolites of Dictyostelium cellular slime molds and explore any biologically active substances which they may hold, constituents of two species were investigated. From a methanol extract of their fruit bodies, two novel acylated amino sugars were isolated, dictyoglucosamine A (1) from D. purpureum and dictyoglucosamine B (2) from D. discoideum. For further analysis, these compounds were then synthesized from N-acetyl-d-glucosamine. Biological evaluation of 1 and 2 showed they induce neuronal differentiation of rat pheochromocytoma (PC-12) cells.