Two new tricycloalternarene esters from an alga-epiphytic isolate of Alternaria alternata.

Two new tricycloalternarene-type meroterpenes, 17-O-methyltricycloalternarene D (1) and methyl nortricycloalternarate (4), and two known congeners, TCA D (2) and TCA 1b (3), were isolated from the culture of a marine red alga-epiphytic fungal strain (k21-1) of Alternaria alternata. The planar structures and relative configurations of these two new compounds were unequivocally identified by a combination of 1D/2D NMR, UV, IR, and mass spectra and by comparison with literature data, and the absolute configurations were assigned by analysis of ECD spectra. Compounds 1-4 were evaluated for growth inhibition of four marine plankton species, but they appeared weak or moderate to inhibit them.