A southern Australian Phorbas sp. has yielded the novel diterpenes phorbasin B (2) and phorbasin C (3). Phorbasins B and C possess a hitherto unknown carbon skeleton, and their structures were assigned on the basis of detailed spectroscopic analyses.

A southern Australian Phorbas species has yielded a novel diterpene, phorbasin A (1), possessing an unprecedented carbon skeleton. The structure for phorbasin A was determined by detailed spectroscopic analysis.

The principle nematocidal agent present in a southern Australian marine sponge of the genus Echinodictyum has been isolated and identified as the novel betaine (+)-echinobetaine B (6), and the structure assigned by spectroscopic analysis has been confirmed by total synthesis. Preliminary SAR conclusions are drawn from analysis of synthetic intermediates and the known marine metabolites zooanemonin (12) and norzooanemonin (13), and the new sponge metabolite norzooanemonin methyl ester (14). The latter compound is reported for the first time from a selection of Australian sponges, including an Axinyssa sp., a Niphates sp., an Axinella sp. and a Ptilocaulis sp.

Other bioactive products U 1300 (+)-Echinobetaine B: Isolation, Structure Elucidation, Synthesis and Preliminary SAR Studies on a New Nematocidal Betaine from a Southern Australian Marine Sponge, Echinodictyum sp. -(CAPON*, R. J.; VUONG, D.; MCNALLY, M.; PETERLE, T.; TROTTER, N.; LACEY, E.; GILL, J. H.; Org. Biomol. Chem. 3 (2005) 1, 118-122; Inst. Mol. Biosci.,