A new sesquiterpene, (+)-19-methylaminoavarone (1), together with six known compounds (2-7), were isolated from the Xisha Islands marine sponge Dysidea sp. The structures were elucidated based on their spectroscopic data. We revised the carbon spectrum data of the compound 2. The absolute configurations of compounds 1 and 2 were further confirmed by electronic circular dichroism (ECD) analysis. Compounds 1-3 and 5-7 showed potent cytotoxic activity against several human cancer cell lines.
Keywords: ECD; Xisha Islands; cytotoxicity; sesquiterpene; sponge.