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Updated: Feb 6, 2026

Crystallizing Membrane Proteins for Structure Determination using Lipidic Mesophases
Published on: November 21, 2010
Crystal structure of limonoid TS3, isolated from Trichilia rubescens
Patrice Kenfack Tsobnang1, Armelle Tsamo Tontsa2,3, Pierre Mkounga2
1Chemistry Department, University of Dschang, PO Box 67, Dschang, Cameroon.
Abstract:
The title limonoid compound, C26H28O5·0.5H2O (TS3) [systematic name: (3aS,3bS,4aS,5aS,6S,7aR,8aR,8bS,11aR)-6-(furan-3-yl)-3a,5a,8b,11a-tetra-methyl-3a,4a,5,5a,6,7,7a,8b,11,11a-deca-hydro-oxireno[2',3':4b,5]oxireno[2'',3'':2',3']cyclo-penta-[1',2':7,8]phenanthro[10,1-bc]furan-3(3aH)-one hemihydrate], crystallizes with two independent mol-ecules (1 and 2) in the asymmetric unit and one water mol-ecule. TS3 is composed of three six-membered rings (A, C and D), three five-membered rings (B, E and F) and two epoxide rings. A group of five fused rings (A-E) is bonded to a furan ring (F) with a Csp3-Csp2 bond [1.500 (3) Å in mol-ecule 1 and 1.499 (3) Å in mol-ecule 2]. The absolute structures of the mol-ecules in the crystal were determined by resonant scattering; Flack parameter = 0.05 (5). In the crystal, the individual mol-ecules stack in columns along the b-axis direction. The water mol-ecule bridges mol-ecules 1 and 2 via Owater-H⋯O and C-H⋯Owater hydrogen bonds. Together with further C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds, linking mol-ecules 1 and 2, the columns are linked to form slabs parallel to the ab plane. Within each column, mol-ecules are also linked via C-H⋯π inter-actions involving the five-membered furan (F) rings.
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