Triterpene glycosides from the Far-Eastern sea cucumber Pentamera calcigera. 1. Monosulfated glycosides and cytotoxicity of their unsulfated derivatives.

Three new monosulfated triterpene glycosides, calcigerosides B (2), C(1) (3), and C(2) (4), along with the known cucumarioside G(2) (1), have been isolated from the sea cucumber Pentamera calcigera. Their structures have been deduced from extensive spectral analysis (NMR and MS) and chemical evidence. Compounds 2-4 present a novel pentasacharide chain never reported before in sea cucumber triterpene glycosides. The desulfated derivatives of calcigerosides B, C(1), and C(2) (5, 7, and 9, respectively) showed moderate cytotoxicity (IC(50) = 5 microg/mL) against a selection of four human and mouse tumor cell lines.