Study on Cembranoids from the Formosan Soft Coral Sinularia querciformis

by Lu, Yi

In order to discover and develop new drug from soft corals of Taiwan, we have searched the bioactive metabolites from the organic extracts of a soft coral Sinularia querciformis. This study had led to the isolation of seventeen cembrane-type compounds (1¡V17), including ten new natural compounds (1-10), along with seven known compounds (11-17). The structures of metabolites 1¡V17, including their stereochemistries have been established by spectroscopic analyses (IR, MS, 1D, and 2D NMR) and by comparison of the related physical and spectral data with those of other known compounds. The relative configuration of compound 2 was further confirmed by X-ray single-crystal diffraction analysis. The absolute configurations of 1¡V4, 11 and 12 were determined using a modified Mosher¡¦s method for 1 and 11. In above metabolites, compounds 14 and 17 were found to exhibit inhibition against the growth of cervical epitheloid (Hela), laryngeal (Hep 2), medulloblastoma (Daoy) and breast (MCF-7) carcinoma cells. Furthermore, compounds 3¡V7 and 11¡V17 were found to significantly inhibit the accumulation of the pro¡Vinflammatory iNOS protein at 10 £gM, and compounds 3, 11, 12, 16, and 17 were also found to significantly inhibit the accumulation of the pro¡Vinflammatory COX-2 protein at 10 £gM.