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Abstract: Chemical investigations of the MeOH–CH2Cl2 extract of Pseudopterogorgia elisabethae specimens collected in the islands of San Andrés and Providencia, Colombian Caribbean, yielded four new diterpenes ( 1 , 3 , 5 , 7 ) along with seco-pseudopterosin J ( 8 ), and amphilectosins A ( 9 ) and B ( 10 ). The structures of the new compounds were established through spectral studies as an elisabethatriene analog named elisabethatrienol ( 1 ), 10-acetoxy-9-hydroxy- and 9-acetoxy-10-hydroxy-amphilecta-8,10,12,14-tetraenes (isolated as an interconverting mixture) ( 3 ), amphilecta-8(13),11,14-triene-9,10-dione ( 5 ), and a seco-pseudopterosin 7-O-α-l-fucopyranoside named seco-pseudopterosin K ( 7 ). Elisabethatrienol can be regarded as a biosynthetic intermediate leading to erogorgiaene. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Five cyclobutane dimers, achyrodimers A-E (1-5), along with 11 known compounds were isolated from the methanol extract of the Colombian medicinal plant Achyrocline bogotensis. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopy. Several of these compounds were screened for cytokine-inducing activity in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

The methanol extract of the bark of the Colombian medicinal plant Maytenus laevis gave six new compounds and 28 known compounds. The structures of the new and known compounds were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic evidence. Several of these compounds were screened for cytokine-inducing activity on human PBMCs to investigate antitumor effects, and canophyllol (12) demonstrated the most effective induction of the cytokines.

Fractionation of an acetone-methanol (1:1) extract of the Caribbean marine sponge Axinyssa ambrosia yielded three new sesquiterpenes whose structures were established by spectroscopic methods as (4R*,5R*,7S*,10R*)-eudesm-11-en-4-ylamine hydrochloride (1), axinyssamine hydrochloride, (4R*,5R*,7S*,10R*)-4-isocyanatoeudesm-11-ene (3), and (4R*,5R*,7S*,10R*)-formamidoeudesm-11-ene (4). Compound 1 exhibited significant cytotoxic activity against cancer cells and was also active in a lethality test using polyps of the scleractinian coral Madracis mirabilis.