Two sulfated diterpene glycosides
featuring a highly substituted
and sterically encumbered cyclopropane ring have been isolated from
the marine red alga Peyssonnelia sp.
Combination of a wide array of 2D NMR spectroscopic experiments, in
a systematic structure elucidation workflow, revealed that peyssonnosides
A–B (1–2) represent a new class of diterpene
glycosides with a tetracyclo [7.5.0.01,10.05,9] tetradecane architecture. A salient feature of this workflow is
the unique application of quantitative interproton distances obtained
from the rotating frame Overhauser effect spectroscopy (ROESY) NMR
experiment, wherein the β-d-glucose moiety of 1 was used as an internal probe to unequivocally determine
the absolute configuration, which was also supported by optical rotatory
dispersion (ORD). Peyssonnoside A (1) exhibited promising
activity against liver stage Plasmodium berghei and moderate antimethicillin-resistant Staphylococcus
aureus (MRSA) activity, with no cytotoxicity against
human keratinocytes. Additionally, 1 showed strong growth
inhibition of the marine fungus Dendryphiella salina indicating an antifungal ecological role in its natural environment.
The high natural abundance and novel carbon skeleton of 1 suggests a rare terpene cyclase machinery, exemplifying the chemical
diversity in this phylogenetically distinct marine red alga.