Six constituents (1-6) were isolated from EtOAc-soluble partitions of two separate collections of the whole plants of Cotinus coggygria, namely, disulfuretin ¿2,2'-[1,2-bis(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-1, 2-ethanedylidene]bis[6-hydroxy-3(2H)-benzofuranone] (1)¿, sulfuretin (2), sulfurein (3), gallic acid (4), methyl gallate (5), and pentagalloyl glucose (6). The structure of the novel biaurone 1 was determined by spectral and chemical methods. Compounds 1-6 were found to be potent antioxidants in a 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl free-radical scavenging assay.

Malevamide D (1), a highly cytotoxic peptide ester, and the known compound curacin D (5) were isolated from a Hawaiian sample of Symploca hydnoides. The structure of 1 was elucidated by spectroscopic analysis including NMR and high-resolution MS/MS. Partial stereochemical assignments of 1 were made by chiral HPLC analysis of acid and base hydrolysates. Malevamide D (1) demonstrated toxicity against P-388, A-549, HT-29, and MEL-28 cell lines in the subnanomolar range, while curacin D (5) was weakly cytotoxic. Malevamide D (1) is closely related to isodolastatin H (2), which was previously isolated in low yield from the sea hare Dolabella auricularia. A second Hawaiian sample of S. hydnoides yielded curacin D (5) along with the known dolastatin-10 analogue symplostatin-1 (3).

A new depsipeptide, malevamide E (1), was isolated from field-collected colonies of the filamentous cyanobacterium Symploca laete-viridis. The gross structure of 1 was determined by spectroscopic analyses, including one- and two-dimensional NMR and accurately measured MS/MS. Chiral HPLC analyses of an acid hydrolysate of 1 allowed the stereochemical assignments of its amino acid residues, which include N-methyl-L-alanine, alpha-N,gamma-N-dimethyl-L-asparagine, N-methyl-L-phenylalanine, L-proline, D-valine, and N-methyl-L-valine. LC-MS/MS analysis of S. laete-viridis fractions established the co-occurrence of malevamide E (1) and its homologue dolastatin 14 (2), which was previously reported in low yield from the sea hare Dolabella auricularia. Malevamide E (1) demonstrated a dose-dependent (2-45 microM) inhibition of store-operated Ca(2+) entry in thapsigargin-treated human embryonic kidney (HEK) cells, indicating an inhibitory effect on Ca(2+) release-activated Ca(2+) (CRAC) channels.