2-Hydroxy fatty acids from marine sponges. 2. The phospholipid fatty acids of the Caribbean sponges Verongula gigantea and Aplysina archeri.

The alpha-hydroxy fatty acids 2-hydroxy-eicosanoic (1) acid, 2-hydroxyheneicosanoic (2) acid, 2-hydroxydocosanoic (3) acid, 2-hydroxytetracosanoic (4) acid, 2-hydroxy-23-methyl-tetracosanoic acid and 2-hydroxypentacosanoic (5) acid were isolated from the Caribbean sponges Verongula gigantea and Aplysina archeri. The very long chain fatty acids 5,9-nonacosadienoic acid (29:2) and 5,9,23-tricontatrienoic acid (30:3) were also identified together with the iso-prenoid fatty acid 3,7,11,15-tetramethylhexadecanoic (phytanic) acid that seems to be common in the Aplysinidae. A. archeri contained an extremely long chain fatty acid tentatively characterized as dotricontaenoic (32:1) acid. These acids were found to occur in phosphatidylserine, phosphatidylinositol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylcholine and traces of phosphatidylglycerol.