Four novel pyrroloiminoquinone alkaloids that differ from members of the discorhabdin/prianosin family for having an allylic alcohol functionality in place of the enone system, epinardins A-D (8-11), have been isolated from undetermined deep-water green demosponges collected in pre-Antarctic waters near the Crozet Islands. Relative stereochemistry has been fully assigned from high-field NMR spectra. Epinardin C (10) proved strongly cytotoxic towards doxorubicin-resistant L1210/DX tumoural cells in vitro. (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd