An aerial form of Scytonema mirabile (Dillwyn) Bornet, designated strain number BY-8-1, has been found to contain six novel isonitriles, viz. mirabilene isonitriles A-F (7—12), which are mildly cytotoxic and antimicrobial. The gross structures of 7–12 were determined by detailed spectral analysis. The relative and absolute stereochemistry of 7–12 were solved by chemical degradation and direct comparison of degradation products with synthetic samples; mirabilene-A isonitrile (7), for example, was degraded to methyl (3R,5/?,7S,9S)-3,5,7,9-tetrameth-oxy-10-oxoundecanal (15) and isopropyl (S)-3-trifluoroacetamidobutyrate (14), which indicated that the absolute configurations of C-4, C-6, C-8, C-10, and C-16 in 7 were all S. © 1990, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.