Abstract
The UHPLC–HRMS analysis of Cortinarius ominosus basidiomata extract revealed that this mushroom accumulated elevated yields of an unreported specialized metabolite. The molecular formula of this unknown compound, C17H10O8, indicated that a challenging structure elucidation lay ahead, owing to its critically low H/C atom ratio. The structure of this new isolate, namely ominoxanthone (1), could not be solved from the interpretation of the usual set of 1D/2D NMR data that conveyed too limited information to afford a single, unambiguous structure. To remedy this, a Computer-Assisted Structure Elucidation (CASE) workflow was used to rank the different possible structure candidates consistent with our scarce spectroscopic data. DFT-based chemical shift calculations on a limited set of top-ranked structures further ascertained the determined structure for ominoxanthone. Although the determined scaffold of ominoxanthone is unprecedented as a natural product, a plausible biosynthetic scenario involving a precursor known from cortinariaceous sources and classical biogenetic reactions could be proposed.