Capnellenes from the Soft Coral Dendronephthya rubeola

Abstract

Four new acetoxycapnellenes 1-4, the first epoxyprecapnellene 5, along with the known dihydroxycapnellene 6 and monoacetoxycapnellene 7, have been isolated from the soft coral Dendronephthya rubeola. The structures were determined primarily by NMR spectroscopy. The compounds 6 and 7 showed a good antiproliferative activity against the cell line L-929 (murine fibroblasts) and a good cytotoxic activity against the HeLa (human cervix carcinoma) cell line. Compound 6 strongly inhibits the interaction of the oncogenic transcription factor Myc with its partner protein Max. Myc/Max-Interaction inhibitors are therapeutically interesting compounds in oncology.

Chemical and biological aspects of octocorals from the Brazilian coast

“…Numerous secondary metabolites have been isolated from these species, including steroids, diterpenoids, sesquiterpenoids and quinones; and many of them exhibit biological properties (Hu et al, 2011). Some examples of interesting compounds found in the family Nephtheidae are: acetoxycapnellene 2 ,8 ,13-triacetoxycapnell-9(12)-ene-10 -ol (21) from Dendronephthya rebeola (Grote et al, 2007), paralemnolin A (22) from Paralemnalia thyrsoides (Huang et al, 2005), a guaiane-based sesquiterpene (23) from Nepthea chabrolii (Coll et al, 1985), flavalin E (24) from Lemnalia flava , sclerosteroid J (25) from Scleronephthya gracillimum (Fang et al, 2013), polyoxygenated steroid cholesta-1,4-dien-12 ,16 , 20 -triol-3-one from Chromonephthea sp. (26) (Geng et al, 2009) and tetraprenyl-benzoquinone derivatives from Nepthea sp.…”

Cnidarians as a Source of New Marine Bioactive Compounds—An Overview of the Last Decade and Future Steps for Bioprospecting

“…Soft corals are rich sources of secondary metabolites such as diterpenes, sesquiterpenes, furanoditerpenes, terpenoids, capnellenes and steroids (e.g., Lobophytum , Sinularia (Figure 1A), Sarcophyton [86] (Figure 1C), Capnella [87], Dendronephthya [78]), that have shown to display HIV-inhibitory [57], cytotoxic [88,89], anti-inflammatory [90,91], anticancer [92,93] and antimicrobial activity [94], as well as cardiac and vascular responses [95]. Soft corals of the family Nephtheidae are known for their content of sesquiterpenes and particularly capnellenes [28].…”

Terpenes from the Soft Corals Litophyton arboreum and Sarcophyton ehrenbergi

“…The reference compound was imatinib mesilate, which is used as a drug for the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukaemia and gastrointestinal stromal tumors. The antiproliferative and cytotoxic activities were determined as described in [16] [38]. The cembranoids 10 and 11 have been obtained before from the soft coral Sarcophyton sp.…”