The molecular formular of ximaolide K (
4) was deduced as C
41H
62O
9 by HREI-MS at
m/z 698.4401 [M]
+, with eleven degrees of unsaturation. The
1H and
13C NMR spectra (
Table 1,
Table 2), as well as an HSQC experiment, indicated the presence of a methyl ester [
δC 173.0 (C), 51.7 (CH
3) and
δH 3.48 (3H, s)], three ketone carbonyl groups (
δC 210.7, 213.7, 209.7), one tri-substituted double bond [
δC/H 123.0/5.63 (CH), 137.3 (C)] and one tetra-substituted double bond [
δC 131.7 (C), 141.0 (C)], six oxygenated carbons [
δC/H 87.7/3.58 (CH), 69.6 (C), 74.6 (C), 69.1/3.55 (CH), 72.3/4.77 (CH), 85.1 (C)], and eight methyl groups (
δC/H 18.0/0.74, 21.5/0.98, 17.9/1.11, 22.6/0.87, 25.1/1.59, 17.0/1.56, 25.8/1.10, 23.3/1.18). All the above signals indicated that compound
4 is also a biscembranoid, with the same ring A as the other co-isolated compounds. Four carbonyls and two double bonds accounted for six degrees of unsaturation, thus the remaining five degrees should be ascribed to a pentacyclic ring system. The
1H-
1H COSY correlations of H-2 (
δH 3.86)/H
2-36 (
δH 2.57, 1.69), H
2-24 (
δH 2.32, 2.18)/H
2-25 (
δH 1.89, 1.47)/H-26 (
δH 3.58), H
2-28 (
δH 1.93, 1.56)/H
2-29 (
δH 1.75)/H-30 (
δH 3.55) and H
2-32 (
δH 2.03, 1.94)/H-33 (
δH 4.77) disclosed the proton connectivity for four structural fragments
a-
d (
Fig. 2). Fragment
a, along with the HMBC correlations from H-2 to C-21 (
δC 131.7)/C-35 (
δC 85.1), H
2-36 to C-34 (
δC 141.0)/C-35 (
δC 85.1), H
3-37 (
δH 1.59) to C-34/C-36 (
δC 34.1), constituted the six membered ring B, with the tetra-substituted double bond located at Δ
21,34. Fragments
b-
d, together with the HMBC correlations from H-22 (
δH 5.63) to C-23 (
δC 137.3)/C-24 (
δC 39.8)/C-34/C-38 (
δC 17.0), H-26 to C-27 (
δC 69.6)/C-28 (
δC 31.4), H-30 to C-28/C-31 (
δC 74.6)/C-32 (
δC 43.9), H
2-32 to C-31, H-33 to C-21/C-32/C-34/C-35, constructed the 14-membered cembrane ring C, with the location of the trisubstituted double bond at Δ
22,23. The biscembranoid skeleton of
4 was then set up, and the remaining two rings must be attributed to two cyclic ethers. The first cyclic ether was deduced to be a tetrahydropyran ring D, connecting C-26 and C-30, since the HMBC correlations from H-26 to C-30 and from H-30 to C-26 have been both observed (
Fig. 2). The extremely similar
13C NMR data of C-26/C-27/C-30/C-31 (87.7/69.6/69.1/74.6) with those of the co-occurring compounds
7 and
9, not only confirmed the presence of the tetrahydropyran ring D, but also indicated that the two hydroxyls should be located at C-27 and C-31. Therefore, the last cyclic ether ring must be constructed by a connection of C-33 and C-35, forming an oxetane ring. Finally, the planar structure of compound
4 was determined as shown in
Fig. 1. The relative configuration of
4 was assigned by NOESY correlations and by comparison with the co-isolated compounds
7 and
9 which contain the same tetrahydropyran ring. The relative configuration of chiral centers C-26, C-33 and C-35 were determined to be 26
S*, 33
S*, 35
S* by the distinct NOE correlations of H-26 (
δH 3.58) and H-33 (
δH 4.77), H-33 and H
3-37 (
δH 1.59). The whole relative configuration of
4 was further elucidated
via QM-NMR calculations, using the DP4+ protocol as used for
1–
3. This time the calculations gave a best match for isomer 1
S*, 2
S*, 5
S*, 9
R*, 12
S*, 26
S*, 27
R*, 30
R*, 31
S*, 33
S*, 35
S* with 80% probability (
Figs. 4 and Fig. S50 in Supporting information). CMAE values of 2.9 and 0.17 ppm for carbon and proton data, respectively, were obtained.