Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry has been applied to thestructure assignment ofseven new microcystins (
1-
7), obtained fromcultured
Anabaena sp. strain 186. Thesevennew microcystins contain the dehydroalanine (Dha) or
L-Serunit instead of the
N-methyldehydroalanine unit and the
L-Glu and/or its
-methyl ester[E(OMe)] units at the two variable
L-amino acid units, and the structures were assigned as[Dha
7]microcystin-E(OMe)E(OMe)(
1),[
D-Asp
3,Dha
7]microcystin-E(OMe)E(OMe)(
2),[
L-Ser
7]microcystin-E(OMe)E(OMe)(
3),[
D-Asp
3,
L-Ser
7]microcystin-E(OMe)E(OMe) (
4),[Dha
7]microcystin-EE(OMe) (
5),[
D-Asp
3,Dha
7]microcystin-EE(OMe) (
6), and[
L-Ser
7]microcystin-EE(OMe)(
7). These microcystins are the firstexamplescontaining dicarboxylic amino acids at the two variable
L-amino acid units in microcystins.