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A deep study of the metabolic content of the tunicate Polycarpa aurata, collected from Indonesian coast, afforded the isolation of two novel alkaloids, polyaurines A (1) and B (2), along with two new p-substituted benzoyl derivatives (3 and 4) and four known compounds (5&ndash, 8). The structural elucidation of the new secondary metabolites was assigned by 1D, 2D NMR, and HRESIMS techniques. Computational studies resulted a useful tool to unambiguously determine in polyaurine B the presence of rarely found 1,2,4-thiadiazole ring. The effects of polyaurines A and B on mammalian cells growth and on the viability of different blood-dwelling Schistosoma mansoni (phylum: Platyhelminthes) stages, as well as egg production, were evaluated. Both compounds resulted not cytotoxic, interestingly some of the eggs produced by polyaurine A-treated adult pairs in vitro are smaller, deformed, and/or fragmented, therefore, polyaurine A could represent an interesting bioactive natural molecule to be further investigated.

Two new alkaloids, polycarpathiamines A and B (1 and 2), were isolated from the ascidian Polycarpa aurata. Their structures were unambiguously determined by 1D, 2D NMR, and HRESIMS measurements and further confirmed by comparison with a closely related analogue, 3-dimethylamino-5-benzoyl-1,2,4-thiadiazole (4), that was prepared by chemical synthesis. Compounds 1 and 2 both feature an uncommon 1,2,4-thiadiazole ring whose biosynthetic origin is proposed. Compound 1 showed significant cytotoxic activity against L5178Y murine lymphoma cells (IC50 0.41 μM).

N,N-Didesmethylgrossularine-1 (DDMG-1), a compound with a rare alpha-carboline structure, was isolated from an Indonesian ascidian Polycarpa aurata as responsible for the observed inhibitory activity against TNF-alpha production in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated murine macrophage-like RAW264.7 cells. DDMG-1 inhibited the mRNA level of mTNF-alpha, IkappaB-alpha degradation, and binding of NF-kappaB to the target DNA site in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. Moreover, DDMG-1 had an inhibitory effect on the production of IL-8, which is produced in CD14(+)-THP-1 cells stimulated by LPS. DDMG-1 is thus a promising drug candidate lead compound for the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis.

Polycarpine 1 , a highly cytotoxic marine natural product, has been synthesized in three steps from p-methoxyphenacyl bromide 4 in 57% overall yield. The key reaction for construction of the symmetrically substituted disulfide linkage of polycarpine is the treatment of 2-amino-4-(4-methoxyphenyl)-1-methylimidazole 17 with S2Cl2 in acetic acid. In a similar way ten related compounds, including three thiazole analogues, have been prepared. Most of them exhibit high cytotoxic activities against an array of human cancer cell lines.

Two new alkaloids, polycarpine (1) and N,N-didesmethylgrossularine-1 (4), have been isolated from extracts of the ascidian Polycarpa aurata collected in Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia. Three degradation products of 1 were also isolated. The structures of 1, 2, and 4 were determined by X-ray crystallography. The dimeric disulfide 1 inhibited the enzyme inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase, but the inhibition could be reversed by addition of excess dithiothreitol suggesting that 1 reacts with sulfhydryl groups on the enzyme.

Three new sulfur-containing alkaloids, polycarpaurines A ( 1 ), B ( 2 ), and C ( 3 ) were isolated from the tropical ascidian Polycarpa aurata collected in Indonesia, together with six known compounds ( 4 – 9 ). The structures of new compounds were assigned on the basis of their spectral data. Compounds 1 , 3 , 4 , and 8 inhibited colony formation of Chinese hamster V79 cells with EC 50 values of 6.8, 8.6, 3.8, and 10 μM, respectively. Compounds 2 and 7 showed modest activity against V79 cells (EC 50 >10 μM).