Nine cembrane-type diterpenoids, manaarenolides A-I (1-9), along with two known cembranolides, 10 and 11, have been isolated from the ethyl acetate extract of the Taiwanese soft coral Sinularia manaarensis. Among these metabolites, diterpenes (1, 2, 5, and 6) were discovered for the first time as the hydroperoxycembranolides possessing a delta-lactone ring. The 13-epimeric metabolites 7 and 8 have been shown to exhibit moderate cytotoxic activity against Hepa59T/VGH, KB, Hela, and Med cancer cell lines. The biosynthetic relationship between these new metabolites and 10 and 11 is also discussed.

Five new cembranoids, namely, crassumolides A and B and D-F (1 and 2 and 4-6), along with four known metabolites, 7-10, were isolated from the soft coral Lobophytum crassum. Crassumolide C (3) was isolated for the first time from a natural source. The structures of these compounds were elucidated by extensive spectroscopic analysis and comparison of the NMR data with those of known analogues. The absolute stereochemistry of 1 was determined using the modified Mosher's method. Chemical transformation of 7 into the corresponding methyl ester 3 revealed the absolute stereochemistry of 3. Compounds 1, 3, and 7 were cytotoxic toward Ca9-22 cancer cells, and 10 was broadly cytotoxic toward all six test cancer cell lines used. Compounds 1, 3, 7, and 10 were found to inhibit the accumulation of the pro-inflammatory proteins iNOS and COX-2 at 10 μM.