Enigmazole B (1) and four new analogues, cis-enigmazole B (2), dehydroenigmazole B (3), enigmimide B (4), and enigmimide A (5), were isolated from the marine sponge Cinachyrella
enigmatica. Their planar structures were elucidated
by detailed NMR and MS data analyses, which established 1–3 to be oxazole-substituted 18-membered phosphomacrolides,
while 4 and 5 were oxazole ring-opened congeners.
The relative and absolute configurations in 1 were determined
by a combination of chemical transformations and spectroscopic analyses.
Photooxidation of the oxazole moiety in 1 gave enigmimide
B (4), thus establishing that 4 has the
same absolute configuration of 1. Enigmazole B (1) along with analogues 2 and 3 showed
cytotoxicity against murine IC-2 mast cells with IC50 values
of 3.6–7.0 μM. The enigmimides (4 and 5) and dephosphoenigmazoles did not show cytotoxicity (IC50 > 10 μM), implying that both the oxazole moiety
and
the phosphate group are necessary for the cytotoxicity of the enigmazole
class macrolides.