Starfish saponins. 55. Isolation, structure elucidation, and biological activity of the steroid oligoglycosides from an Antarctic starfish of the family Asteriidae.

This paper reports an analysis of the chemical constituents from an Antarctic starfish of the family Asteriidae. Different steroid glycoside types are represented among its constituents, including the five hexaglycoside steroidal sulfates ("asterosaponins") asteriidosides A-E (1-5), differing in their oligosaccharide chain, and the two nonsulfated diglycosides asteriidoside F (6) and G (7), in which 6 is the 26-methyl analogue of 7. Also present are the two sulfated diglycosides asteriidoside H (8) and I (9) and one sulfated monoglycoside asteriidoside L (10). Eight of the compounds were tested against human nonsmall-cell lung carcinoma cells (NSCLC-L16) and found to be moderately cytotoxic.