Marine carotenoids: recent progress

Abstract

-Progress on marine carotenoids over the past three years is reviewed.Structural elucidation including stereochemical assignments, improved methodology for such studies and partial syntheses are treated, Unpublished results from the author's laboratory are included. Several applied aspects are mentioned,

Carotenoids are the likely precursor of a significant fraction of marine dissolved organic matter

“…Of the hundreds of unique marine carotenoids, many share two defining features that are derived from isoprenoid units: cyclic head groups and branched methyl side chains, with conjugated double bonds ( 14 ). Resonances associated with alicyclic compounds in marine DOM were previously assigned to CRAM, a definition that originally referred to carboxylic acid–rich, fused alicyclic ring structures ( 8 , 11 ).…”

“…The relative abundances and chemical composition of terpenoid molecules in PPL-DOM before the reduction were further examined with 2D NMR techniques. To confirm the structural assignments made by GC-MS and NMR, a simple laboratory experiment was conducted using a model compound, β-carotene (BC), as a representative of a widespread class of terpenoids ( 14 ). Together, the results presented here provide the first direct confirmation of the abundance of isoprenoid structures in marine DOM.…”

HPLC‐PAD‐atmospheric pressure chemical ionization‐MS metabolite profiling of cytotoxic carotenoids from the echinoderm Marthasterias glacialis (spiny sea‐star)

“…Carotenoids are quite widespread in nature and marine organisms are no exception. In fact, the higher degree of diversity seems to be in the aquatic environment [1].…”

Aquatic animal carotenoids

“…Aquatic animal carotenoids have been reviewed by Goodwin, 9 Liaaen‐Jensen, 4,11 Matsuno, 12 Matsuno and Hirao, 5 and Mercadante 13 . The present review discusses aquatic invertebrate and vertebrate carotenoids, comparative biochemistry, and their metabolism.…”