Butanolic extracts of the Mediterranean sponge Aplysina ( = Verongiu) cavernicola have given, by reverse-phase HPLC, the antibacterial quinols (f)-3-bromoverongiaqui-no1 ( = (+)-3-bromo-I-hydroxy-4-oxo-2,5-cyclohexadiene-l-acetamide; ld) and (+)-3bromo-5-chloroverongiaquino1 ( = (f)-3-bromo-5-chloro-1-hydroxy-4-oxo-2,5-cyclohexadiene-I-acetamide; lc) besides the products of their formal cyclization 5-chlorocavernicolin ( = 5-chloro-3,3a,7,7a/3-tetrahydro-3aP-hydroxy-2,6( 1H)-indoledione; 6), the C(7)-epimerizing 7/3-bromo-5-chlorocavernicolin ( = 7P-bromo-5-chloro-3,3a,7,7aa-tetrahydro-3ap-hydroxy-2,6( 1 H)-indoledione; 4a) and 7cr -bromo-5-chlorocavernicolin (4b), and the C(7)-epimerizing 5-bromo-7~-chlorocavernicolin ( = 5-bromo-7~-chloro-3,3a,7,7a~-tetrahydro-3a~-hydroxy-2,6( 1H)-indoledione; 5a) and 5-bromo-7a -chlorocavernicolin (5b). The latter four were isolated as mixtures of C(7)-epimerizing monoacetates 4a'/4b' and 5a'/5b'. Both Id and l c proved to be racemic from NMR examination of their esterification products with (-)-menthyloxyacetic acid, whilst 6 had a ca. 6% enantiomeric purity as shown by a 'H-NMR study of its monoacetate 6' in the presence of a chiral shift reagent. These chiroptical data of the first chiral quinols from the Verongida and of 6 suggest phenol oxidative routes from tyrosine precursors for their formation. In view of their bioactivities, Id and l c have been synthesized from (p-hydroxypheny1)acetic acid by phenol oxidative routes.1. Introduction. -Marine sponges of the order Verongida are of much current biological [I] and organic-chemical interest [2]. Unusual fatty acids [3], sterols [4], carotenoids [5], and amino acids [6] have been isolated from members of this order. However, what makes these sponges unique organisms is their extraordinary ability to give a vast array of dibrominated metabolites of either proven, in certain cases [7], or likely origin from 3,5-dibromotyrosine. These dibrominated metabolites have been recently reviewed from both the chemical [2] and the chemotaxonomical [8] points of view. To