Cytotoxic and Anti-inflammatory Cembranoids from the Soft Coral Lobophytum crassum

Five new cembranoids, namely, crassumolides A and B and D-F (I and 2 and 4-6), along with four known metabolites, 7-10, were isolated from the soft coral Lobophytum crassum. Crassumolide C (3) was isolated for the first time from a natural source. The structures of these compounds were elucidated by extensive spectroscopic analysis and comparison of the NMR data with those of known analogues. The absolute stereochemistry of 1 was determined using the modified Mosher's method. Chemical transformation of 7 into the corresponding methyl ester 3 revealed the absolute stereochemistry of 3. Compounds 1, 3, and 7 were cytotoxic toward Ca9-22 cancer cells, and 10 was broadly cytotoxic toward all six test cancer cell lines used. Compounds 1, 3, 7, and 10 were found to inhibit the accumulation of the pro-inflammatory proteins iNOS and COX-2 at 10 mu M.