Isolation and structural determination of new sphingolipids and pharmacological activity of africanene and other metabolites from Sinularia leptoclados.

Two new sphingolipids, (2S,3S,4R)-1,3,4-trihydroxy-2-[((R)-2'-hydroxytetradecanoyl) amino] tricosane (4) and (2S,3S,4R)-1,3,4-triacetoxy-2-[((R)-2'-acetoxyoctadecanoyl) amino]octadecane (5) along with africanene (1, reasonably good yield), 23-demethylgargosterol (2) and batylalcohol (3) have been isolated from the soft coral Sinularia leptoclados. Preliminary studies for pharmacological activity (blind screening and toxicity studies) of africanene were conducted. Africanene exhibited in vitro and in vivo cytotoxicity, dose dependent hypotensive activity as well as antiinflammatory activity. The pharmacological and toxicity studies on africanene are being reported for the first time and findings strongly encourage further investigation. Compounds 1, 4 and 5 were studied for the antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral activity while compounds 4 and 5 were also studied for the short term in vitro cytotoxic activity.