Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Aug 30;22(9):392.
doi: 10.3390/md22090392.

New Meroterpenes from South China Sea Soft Coral Litophyton brassicum

Xiaoyi Chen  1 , Jiahui Zhang  1 , Jiayu Yang  1 , Bing Li  1 , Te Li  1 , Han Ouyang  2 , Wenhan Lin  3 , Hongyu Hu  4 , Xia Yan  1 , Shan He  1   3
Affiliations

New Meroterpenes from South China Sea Soft Coral Litophyton brassicum

Xiaoyi Chen et al. Mar Drugs. .

Abstract

A chemical investigation of the extracts from the soft coral Litophyton brassicum led to the isolation and identification of four new meroterpenes, brassihydroxybenzoquinone A and B (1 and 2) and brassinaphthoquinone A and B (3 and 4), along with two known related meroterpenes (5 and 6). Their structures were elucidated using high-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HRESIMS), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and a comparison with the literature data. All compounds were evaluated for antibacterial activity against six pathogenic bacterial strains and for cytotoxic activity against three cancer cell lines. In the cytotoxic assay, all compounds were inactive at 10 μM against the A549, HeLa, and MDA-MB-231 cell lines. In the antibacterial assay, compounds 1 and 2 exhibited moderate inhibitory activity with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) ranging from 8 to 64 μg/mL.

Keywords: Litophyton brassicum; antibacterial activity; meroterpenes; soft coral.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chemical structures of compounds 1–6.
Figure 2
Figure 2
1H-1H COSY and key HMBC correlations of compounds 1–4.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Key 1D NOEs of compounds 1–4.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Yan X.-Y., Zhang L., Yang Q.-B., Ge Z.-Y., Liang L.-F., Guo Y.-W. Genus Litophyton: A hidden treasure trove of structurally unique and diversely bioactive secondary metabolites. Mar. Drugs. 2023;21:523. doi: 10.3390/md21100523. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Tursch B. Chemical studies of marine invertebrates XIII: 2-Hydroxynephtenol, a novel cembrane diterpene from the soft coral Litophyton viridis. Bull. Soc. Chim. Belg. 1975;84:767–774. doi: 10.1002/bscb.19750840711. - DOI
    1. Zong Y., Yang J.-J., Li K., Pei Y.-F., Hou H.-Y., Zhang Y., Wang C.-L., Li P.L. Litoamentenes A-K, eleven undescribed cembranoids with cytotoxicity from the South China Sea soft coral Litophyton amentaceum. Phytochemistry. 2024;223:114113. doi: 10.1016/j.phytochem.2024.114113. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Iwagawa T., Kusatsu D., Tsuha K., Hamada T., Okamura H., Furukawa T., Akiyama S.-I., Doe M., Morimoto Y., Iwase F., et al. Cytotoxic eunicellin-type diterpenes from the soft coral Litophyton viscudium [Erratum to document cited in CA156:358828] Heterocycles. 2012;85:2615. doi: 10.3987/Erratum-COM-11-12251. - DOI
    1. Ellithey M.S., Lall N., Hussein A.A., Meyer D. Cytotoxic, cytostatic and HIV-1 PR inhibitory activities of the soft coral Litophyton arboreum. Mar. Drugs. 2013;11:4917–4936. doi: 10.3390/md11124917. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources