PHYCOCHEMICAL EXAMINATION OF 3 SPECIES OF CODIUM (BRYOPSIDOPHYCEAE)

Codium decorticatum f. monstrosum (Mont.) Nizam., C. flabellatum Silva et Nizam. and C. iyengarii Borg., collected from the coast of Karachi, have been analysed for their fatty acid, sterol and diterpene compositions using GLC, GC-MS, EI-, FAB-, FD-, HR- & IR-MS and H-1- & C-13-NMR spectroscopy. Altogether 18 saturated fatty acids including one dicarboxylic acid and 25 unsaturated fatty acids including 14 monoenoic, four dienoic, five trienoic and two monoynoic acids were identified as methyl esters. They included one saturated hydroxy and four substituted unsaturated fatty acids. The dicarboxylic, monoynoic and substituted acids have been detected for the first time in a Karachi seaweed. Eight sterols have been isolated and identified; clerosterol appears to be the chemotaxonomic characteristic of the genus Codium, and codisterol was completely absent. Ergosterol, cholesteryl acetate and four acyclic diterpenoids are being reported for the first time from any species of Codium. The three species differed from one another phycochemically in different aspects.