Bistellettazines A-C and bistellettazole A: new terpenyl-pyrrolizidine and terpenyl-imidazole alkaloids from a southern Australian marine sponge, Stelletta sp.

Four new alkaloids have been isolated during chemical investigations into a southern Australian marine sponge, Stelletta sp. Detailed spectroscopic analysis, supported by chemical degradation and partial synthesis, permitted structure elucidation of bistellettazines A-C ( 1- 3), the first reported examples of terpenyl-pyrrolizidine conjugates, and bistellettazole A ( 4), a unique cyclic terpenyl-imidazole conjugate. The alkaloids 1- 4 feature unprecedented carbon skeletons that are proposed to share a common convergent biosynthetic origin, arising via the biogenic equivalent of a Diels-Alder addition between two hypothetical polyenyl norsesquiterpene precursors.