Brain ischemia injury is elicited by the excitotoxicity of L-glutamate. Carquinostatin B was isolated from Streptomyces exfoliatus 2419-SVT2 as a potent neuroprotective substance which protests neuronal hybridoma N18-RE-105 cells from L-glutamate toxicity. The structure of carquinostatin B was established principally by NMR studies to be a carbazole derivative with an ortho quinone function.