An Overview of Aplysinopsins: Synthesis and Biological Activities

Abstract

Marine products are among the most promising sources of biologically active molecules. Aplysinopsins, tryptophan-derived marine natural products, were isolated from different natural marine sources including sponges, stony corals (hard corals) especially genus scleractinian, as well as sea anemone, in addition to one nudibranch. Aplysinopsins were reported to be isolated from different marine organisms related to various geographic areas such as Pacific, Indonesia, Caribbean, and Mediterranean regions. This review gives an up-to-date overview of marine alkaloid aplysinopsins: their various sources, their synthesis, and the fact that many aplysinopsin derivatives are biologically active compounds.

Case Studies in Molecular Network-Guided Marine Biodiscovery

“…The bright yellow tryptophan alkaloid aplysinopsin (80), first reported in 1977 [77] from a Great Australian Bight sponge of the genus Thorecta sp., heralded the discovery of a great many related and uniquely sponge-derived natural products, including from the gen-era Verongia, Dercitus, Smenospongia, Dictyoceratida, Aplysina, Hyrtios, and Thorectandra [78]. Many examples of the aplysinopsin family of natural products were reported to exhibit prominent biological properties ranging across antimicrobial, antiviral, antimalarial, anticancer, anti-cholinesterase, and anti-depressant activity [79]. Indeed, some 36 years after first being reported from a northern Australian sponge, we returned to the aplysinopsin scaffold and, in 2013 [80], reported on a series of new analogues from the southern Australia sponge Ianthella cf.…”