The EtOAc extract of the sponge Xestospongia muta collected in Colombus Island, Bahamas, yielded eleven straight-chain unsaturated, polyacetylenic, brominated acids, seven of which were identified on the basis of spectral data, including the unknown acids 2-7. These acetylenic acids are the first known examples that have been shown to inhibit HIV protease, a critical enzyme in the replication of human immunodeficiency virus.
Three novel triterpene alcohols, camelliols A (1), B (3), and C (5), possessing a mono-, bi-, and tricyclic ring system, respectively, have been isolated, along with achilleol A, a known monocyclic triterpene alcohol, from the nonsaponifiable lipids of sasanqua oil (Camellia sasanqua). The structures of these new alcohols were determined on the basis of spectroscopic methods.
Quantitative sterol compositions of cultured zooxanthellae isolated from various Pacific and Atlantic invertebrate hosts: Zoanthus sociatus (a zoanthid), Oculina diffusa (a scleractian coral), Tridacna gigas (a giant clam), Melibe pilosa (a nudibranch), and Aiptasia pulcheUa (a sea anemone) are reported. The results clearly demonstrate large differences in sterol patterns of zooxanthellae and that there is no obvious relationship between the taxonomic affiliation ofthe host and the sterol pattern of its isolated symbiont. The sterols of the zooxanthellae of 0. diffusa (Cnidaria) and T. gigas (Mollusca) are qualitatively equivalent. Based on the structures of the two major free sterols synthesized by each alga, the zooxanthellae from different hosts were separated into three distinct groups. It was also found that an aposymbiotic alga can synthesize the unique marine sterols gorgosterol and 23-desmethylgorgosterol. Most of the sterols were identified by using mass spectroscopy and 360-MHz proton magnetic resonance. Spectroscopic data are reported for four novel sterols-(23,24R)-dimethyl-5a-cholest-(22E)-en-3,-ol, 23-methyl-5a-cholest-22E-en-3,B-ol, cholesta-5,14-dien-3f3-ol, and 4a-
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