Two new antibiotics, cervinomycin Al and A2, were isolated from the culture filtrate of strain AM-5344, a soil isolate. The strain was found to belong to a new species of the genus Streptomyces for which the name Streptomyces cervinus is proposed. The antibiotics possess a strong inhibitory activity against anaerobic bacteria, such as Clostridium perfringens, Peptococcus prevolii and Bacteroides fragilis.In the course of screening for antimycoplasmal antibiotics of actinomycetes origin, we found that strain AM-5344 isolated from a soil sample collected at Saiwai-cho, Chiba City, Japan, produces new antibiotics which have been designated cervinomycin Al and A2. These antibiotics were active against anaerobic bacteria at low concentrations.The producing strain was classified as a new species of the genus Streptomyces and designated Streptomyces cervinus sp. nov. The present paper deals with the taxonomy of strain AM-5344 and the production, isolation, and biological and physicochemical properties of cervinomycin Al and A2.

The structures of cervinomycins Ax (1) and A2 (2), a potent anti-anaerobic and antimycoplasmal antibiotic were investigated by means of recent NMR techniques of 0-methyl ether (3) and C,O-dimethyl ether (4) obtained by methylation of 2 with CH3I in the presence ofAg2O.The antibiotic 2 posesses a polycyclic structure involving a xanthone skeleton. The structure of 1 was confirmed to be a hydroquinone of 2 from the evidences that oxidation of 1 with Ag2Oand acetylation of 1 with (CH3CO)2Oin pyridine afforded quantitatively 2 and triacetylcervinomycin Ax (7), respectively.Cervinomycin is an anti-anaerobic and anti-mycoplasmal antibiotic produced by Streptomyces cervinus sp. nov.0 The antibiotic posesses a novel xanthone skeleton2) and consists of two components, Ax (1), mp (dec) >240°C, C29H23NO9 and A2 (2), mp (dec) >290°C, C29H21NO9 which are barely soluble in most solvents. Both components and their acyl derivatives afforded a monocrystal in appropriate solvents, however the X-ray crystallographic analyses were unsuccessful because of extreme instability of the crystals on exposing to air. Therefore, NMRspectroscopic analysis was carried out for cervinomycin methyl derivatives. In this paper we wish to report the structure elucidation of cervinomycin by means of NMRspectroscopy. 2 and 183.2). These data suggest that cervinomycin has a conjugated poly-

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