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Secondary metabolites, derivatives of primary metabolites, are known for their biological activities. Marine organisms, especially marine invertebrates such as sponges, tunicates, soft corals, bryozoans, and nudibranchs are important source of secondary metabolites with diverse biological properties. Approximately 40,000 marine natural products have been identified from various marine resources. Soft corals are a group of invertebrates known for their production of a vast range of metabolites with great structural diversity. Among 39 genera of soft coral Alcyonacean, a total of eighteen different species of Lobophytum soft corals have been identified. Isolation of secondary metabolites from the genus Lobophytum is tremendously explored by researchers worldwide. This review compiles several secondary metabolites that have been isolated and published on the soft coral L. pauciflorum, including the compound structures and some notable bioactivity.

Seaweeds have an important place in the ancient systems of medicine. In addition, they also find significant mention in farming and in nutritional diet due to their benefits such as, availability, cheaper price, renewable potential and the advantage of being easily accessible. There are over 10,000 species of seaweeds that reflect their immense diversity. They are further used for both, their flavour and nutritional properties. Edible seaweeds are rich sources of bioactive compounds. In the last three decades, the discovery of metabolites with biological activities from macroalgae has increased significantly. Padina australis has been reported to possess several therapeutic activities including, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and larvicidal effects. In addition, studies have also reported on the antidiabetic and antihypertensive potential of Padina australis. Till date, there are limited or no scientific reviews that have been published on the pharmacological and therapeutical activities of Padina australis in specific. Thus, there is a need for such a review to appreciate the various biological actions of this potent seaweed. This review, in this direction, attempts to explore the various therapeutic activities of the brown marine seaweed Padina australis, from the current published literature along with their pharmacological and molecular mechanisms, underlying its therapeutic activities. The main limitation of this review is that ancient texts, leisure magazines and traditional manuscripts were not searched.