B:Chemical Investigation of the Red Sea Gorgonian Coral Rumphella torta

Abstract

Natural products can provide new structures for medicinal products which can't be obtained from other sources such as combinatorial synthesis. Aquatic environment provides a countless and varied source for new drugs to combat major diseases. It also affords an ecological advantage that includes a diversity of marine plants and animals. Marine invertebrates are known to develop secondary metabolites that may have potential as candidates for new drugs. Recent studies show that octocorals, like gorgonians can generate secondary metabolites which have powerfull pharmacological activities. In this work, chemical investigation of the gorgonian coral Rumphella torta, collected from the Red Sea led to isolation of eight known compounds which are firstly reported from the species, Cholesterol (1), four fatty acids, Myristic acid (2), Palmitic acid (3), Arachidic acid (4) and Stearic acid (5), Chimyl alcohol (6), Hexadecanoic acid 2, 3-dihydroxy-propyl ester (7) and Thymine (8). The structures of these isolated compounds were determined by spectroscopic methods, including 1D and 2D-NMR, as well as mass spectrometry and by comparison to the literature.