Minor bioactive indoles from kimchi mirror the regioselectivity in indole-3-carbinol oligomerization
Jia Cheng Qian1, Dan Liu1, Li Ping Lin1
1State Key Laboratory Cultivation Base for TCM Quality and Efficacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China.
Abstract:
Kimchi is a globally consumed food with diverse health-benefits, but the low-abundance bioactive compounds in kimchi remain largely neglected. Here we show that kimchi contains a family of low-abundance (0.5-1.6 μg/g, dried weight) high-order indole oligomers derived from indole-3-carbinol (I3C), a breakdown product released from cruciferous vegetables used for producing the traditional subsidiary food. The structure determination of such complex molecules was accomplished by synthesizing linear indole oligomers as standard materials followed by the LC-HR-MS analysis. One indole tetramer (LTe2) is substantially toxic to tumor MV4-11 (IC50 = 1.94 μM) and THP-1 cells (IC50 = 7.12 μM). Collectively, the work adds valuable information to the knowledge package about kimchi, and may inspire the generation of indole-based molecules, to which many drugs belong.
Related Concept Videos
Diels–Alder Reaction Forming Bridged Bicyclic Products: Stereochemistry
Regioselectivity and Stereochemistry of Hydroboration
Hydroboration proceeds in a concerted fashion with the attack of borane on the π bond, giving a cyclic four-centered transition state. The –BH2 group is bonded to the less substituted carbon and –H to the more substituted carbon. The concerted nature requires the simultaneous addition of –H and –BH2 across the same face of the alkene giving syn...
Regioselectivity of Electrophilic Additions to Alkenes: Markovnikov's Rule
The hydrohalogenation of an unsymmetrical alkene can yield two haloalkane products, depending on which vinylic carbon takes up the halogen. However, one product usually predominates, where hydrogen adds to the vinylic carbon bearing the...
ortho–para-Directing Activators: –CH3, –OH, –⁠NH2, –OCH3
SN1 Reaction: Stereochemistry
In the first step of an SN1 reaction, the bond between the electrophilic carbon and the leaving group ionizes to generate the carbocation intermediate. The second step of the mechanism is the nucleophilic attack.
In the formed carbocation, the positively charged carbon is sp2 hybridized with a trigonal planar geometry. As all the three substituents lie on the same plane, a plane of symmetry for the...
Preparation of Diols and Pinacol Rearrangement
The reaction begins with transferring a proton from the acid catalyst to one of the hydroxyl groups, producing an oxonium ion.


