Diterpenes from gorgonian corals

Abstract

Covering: 1995 to April 2008. Gorgonian corals continue to provide a wealth of novel structures, many of which exhibit potentially useful biological activity. Notably, the families Briareidae, Gorgoniidae and Plexauridae have been demonstrated to contain a wide variety of natural products including steroids, acetogenins, sesquiterpenes and diterpenes. The most common of the gorgonian natural products are the diterpenes, and the intent of this review is to describe such compounds isolated from gorgonian corals, with a focus on the structures of new compounds as well as their biological activity. There have been developments improving our understanding of the biosynthetic origin of selected diterpenes, and these will also be discussed. This review describes 602 new compounds from 177 articles.

Chemical and biological aspects of octocorals from the Brazilian coast

“…There is an increase in complexity from unbranched whip forms to open branched forms, reticulate forms, and leafy frond forms. The most common natural products from gorgonians are diterpenes (Berrue and Kerr, 2009).…”

Anticancer activity of diterpenes and steroids from Eunicella singularis against two- and threedimensional breast cancer cell models

“…Eunicella has been demonstrated to contain a wide variety of bioactive natural compounds such as steroids and diterpenes, some of which are believed to have a cytotoxic activity [17,18].…”

Antiherpes screening of marine organisms from Colombian Caribbean Sea

“…The extracts of Eunicea species pointed to recognize them as a rich source of cembranoid and fuscoside diterpenes, and some sesquiterpenes (Rodríguez, 1995). Several biological activities as antimicrobial, cytotoxic, and acetyl choline inhibitors were reported for compounds isolated from soft octocorals belonging to this genus (Berrue & Kerr, 2009). Several cembranolides exhibiting cytotoxic and antibacterial activity have been isolated from E. succinea (Rodríguez, 1995).…”