New Cytotoxic Cembranoid from Indonesian Soft Coral sp.

CONTEXT

is a soft coral species that contains various secondary metabolites with cytotoxic activity. The production of cytotoxic compounds in soft corals is suggested as their allelochemical to win space competition. Therefore, if a particular soft coral species dominates a reef area, it may suggest to contain interesting bioactive compounds.

AIMS

This research aimed to characterize the cytotoxic compounds in dominant soft coral species ( sp.) on the reef at the Western side of Mahengetang Island, Indonesia.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

Isolation of cytotoxic compounds through ethanol extracts had been done with preparative high-performance liquid chromatography and bioassay-guided fractionation by MCF-7 (breast) cancer cell lines. The structures of each cytotoxic compounds were elucidated on the basis of mass and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic studies.

RESULTS

Elucidation through all compounds found a new cembranoid, namely, 2-hydroxy-crassocolide E (1), alongside with 5 known cembranoids; sarcophytoxide (2), sarcrassin E (3), 3,7,11-cembreriene-2,15-diol (4), 11,12-epoxy-Sarcophytol A (5), and sarcophytol A (6). All of these cembranoids were showed to inhibit the growth of MCF-7 (breast) cancer, with 50% inhibition of tumor cell lines growth lower than 30 mg/L.

CONCLUSIONS

Results of this study suggest that a soft coral species which dominate a reef area is a potential source for various bioactive compounds.

SUMMARY

Elucidation of cytotoxic compounds from sp. that dominate the reef at Mahengetang Island Indonesia revealed a new compound (2-hydroxy-crassocolide E) alongside with 5 known cembranoid compounds. : SCUBA: Self-contained underwater breathing apparatus; HPLC: High performance liquid chromatography; NMR: Nuclear magnetic resonance; IT-TOF: Ion trap-time of flight; MTT: 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2; 5-diphenyltetrazolinon bromide; DEPT: Distortionless enhancement by polarisation transfer; COSY: Correlation spectroscopy; HMBC: Heteronuclear multiplebond correlation; NOE: Nuclear overhauser effect; IG50: 50% inhibition growth.