Isolation and structure determination of six glucocerebrosides from the starfish Luidia maculata.

Two new glucocerebrosides, luidiacerebroside A (2) and B (6), were isolated from the cerebroside molecular species obtained from the less polar fraction of the CHCl3/MeOH extract of the starfish Luidia maculata using HPLC. Four known cerebrosides, CE-2b (1), astrocerebroside B (3), acanthacerebroside B (4), and CE-3-2 (5) have also been isolated and characterized. The structures of these cerebrosides were determined on the basis of chemical and spectroscopic evidence. Mass spectrometry of dimethyl disulfide derivatives was useful for the determination of the double-bond position in the long-chain base.