Four new bioactive polybrominated diphenyl ethers of the sponge Dysidea herbacea from West Sumatra, Indonesia.

The marine sponge Dysidea herbacea collected from Indonesia yielded four new polybrominated diphenyl ether congeners 2-5 and the known derivatives 1, 6, and 7. The structures of the new compounds were unambiguously established on the basis of NMR spectroscopic (1H, 13C, COSY, 1H-detected direct and long-range 13C-1H correlations) and mass spectrometric (EIMS) data. All of the compounds were active against the Gram-positive bacteria Bacillus subtilis and the phytopathogenic fungus Cladosporium cucumerinum. The isolated polybrominated compounds were also active in the brine shrimp lethality test. In the latter bioassay, compounds 1 and 6 were the most active with LC50's of 0.96 [SE +/- 0.19] and 0.94 [SE +/- 0.70] microg/mL, respectively.