Glycolipids from the formosan soft coral Lobophytum crassum.

Three glycolipids (1--3), possessing a sugar moiety at C-2 of glycerol ether, have been isolated from the Formosan soft coral Lobophytum crassum. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods, particularly in 1D- and 2D-NMR experiments. The absolute configurations on the sugar portion and lipid aglycon of 1--3 were determined by methanolysis, chemical transformation and the application of Mosher's method on 1 and 3. Compounds 1--3 exhibited weak cytotoxic activities.