The Second Metabolites And The Chemotaxonomy Of Five Gorgonian Corals From The South China Sea

Invertebrates from tropic marine coral reef ecosystem which are rich in novel bioactive secondary metabolites, have become hotspot biological resources for the searching for marine drugs. The second metabolites of five gorgonian corals from the South China Sea have been investigated and the bioactivities of these compounds were evaluated. The chemotaxonomy significance of the second metabolites from gorgonians was analyzed, trying to provide evidences for the taxonomy of gorgonians on the chemistry viewpoint.Five gorgonians, including Dichotella fragilis (Ridleg),Ellisella dollfusi,Muricella sibogae,Muricella abnormalis,Anthogorgia caerulea, were all collected from the south China sea. The second metabolites were isolated by column chromatography on silica gel, Sephadex LH-20, ODS reverse phase silica gel and preparative HPLC, and identified by spectroscopy of NMR and MS. Total of 56 compounds (1–56) were obtained from these gorgonians, including 8 new compounds and 1 nature product isolated from nature source for the first time. Three major structural types were found, including diterpenoids, steroids and sesquiterpenoids. Gorgonians of Dichotella fragilis (Ridleg), Ellisella dollfusi, Muricella abnormalis and Anthogorgia caerulea were chemically studied for the first time. The bioactivities of the compounds were evaluated on various of bioassay models. The results provided new information for the research on marine chemcal ecology and pharmacology.Chemotaxonomy significance of the second metabolites from the five gorgonians was discussed by combination with the data from literature. It showed that the gorgonians of the family of Ellisellidae and Briareidae, Paramuriceidae, Plexauridae and Acanthogorgiidae had close relative, respectively. The genera of Dichotella and Junceella of the familiy Ellisellidae had very close relative. The results from chemotaxonomic analysis were coincident with morphological taxonomy and molecular phylogenetic taxonomy. Furthermore, it should be pointed out that, according to our results of chemotaxonomic analysis, it may be reasonable that the genera of Muricella is belonged to Acanthogorgiidae family. All the results indicated that chemotaxonomy used in taxonomy of gorgonians could supply new evidences for morphology and molecular phylogenetic taxonomy, and could be guidance for us to screen and discover bioactive marine nature products more purposefully.In present study, the chemotaxonomic significance of the secondary metabolites from five gorgonians was analyzed and discussed for the first time. The results from our investigation provided new evidences for the morphological and molecular phylogenetic taxonomy from a chemical viewpoint.