Isolation and structure determination of lyngbyastatin 3, a lyngbyastatin 1 homologue from the marine cyanobacterium Lyngbya majuscula. Determination of the configuration of the 4-amino-2,2-dimethyl-3-oxopentanoic acid unit in majusculamide C, dolastatin 12, lyngbyastatin 1, and lyngbyastatin 3 from cyanobacteria.

The structure of lyngbyastatin 3 (1), including the configurations of the two unusual amino acid residues, viz., the 3-amino-2-methylhexanoic acid (Amha) and 4-amino-2,2-dimethyl-3-oxopentanoic acid units (Ibu), has been established by chemical degradation. Analysis of the cyanobacterial samples of lyngbyastatin 3 (1), lyngbyastatin 1 (2), and dolastatin 12 (3) demonstrated that they are mixtures of Ibu epimers [R (major) and S (minor)], whereas the structurally related majusculamide C (4) is a single diastereomer having an S-Ibu unit.