Piperazinomycin, a new antifungal antibiotic. I. Fermentation, isolation, characterization and biological properties.

A new antifungal antibiotic, named piperazinomycin, was isolated from the cultured broth of Streptoverticillium olivoreticuli subsp. neoenacticus. The antibiotic was obtained from the mycelial cake by extraction with methanol and also from the broth filtrate by adsorption on Amberlite XAD-2 and subsequent elution with aqueous acetone. The antibitoic is of basic and lipophilic nature and can be extracted with methyl isobutyl ketone at alkaline pH. Its purification was carried out by column chromatography on Sephadex LH-20 and then on Sephadex G-15 followed by preparative thin-layer chromatography on silica gel. The molecular formula of piperazinomycin was determined to be C125H20NsO2 by high resolution mass spectrum and the spectroscopic and chemical properties were examined. Piperazinomycin showed inhibitory activity against fungi and yeasts, especially against Trichophyton.