Antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities of synthetically derived tambjamines C and E - J, BE-18591, and a related alkaloid from the marine bacterium Pseudoalteromonas tunicata.

In the first comprehensive biological assessment of the tambjamine class of marine alkaloids, synthetically derived samples of compounds 1-9 have been subjected to evaluation as antimicrobial agents and screened for their cytotoxic effects on various human cancer cell lines. Most were strongly active against the fungus Malassezia furfur (>amphotericin B) and showed considerable, but non-selective, antiproliferative activity against both human cancer and normal cell lines. Tambjamines I and J (6 and 7, resp.) displayed significant apoptosis-inducing effects.