Cytotoxic biscembranes from the soft coral Sarcophyton glaucum.

Seven new tetracyclic biscembranes (1-7) have been isolated from the soft coral Sarcophyton glaucum. Four (1-4) may be formed biogenetically by a Diels-Alder reaction of Delta(4(5)) and Delta(8(9)) geometrical isomers of methyl sarcoate and Delta(21(34), 35(36)) dienes, including two with a tetrahydrofuran ring between C-27 and C-30 (3, 4), and three biscembranes (5-7) are probably derived from methyl sarcoate isomers with Delta(1(14), 4(5), 8(9)) and a cembrane diene. Their structures were established on the basis of spectroscopic methods. Six of them (1-5, 7) exhibited weak cytotoxic activity against proliferation of human promyelocytic leukemia cells (HL-60).