Chemical investigation on the soft coral Sarcophyton ehrenbergi collected from the Xisha Islands of the South China Sea have led to the isolation of eight cembranoids including five new ones, sarcophytonoxides A-E (1-5). The structures of new cembranoids (1-5) were determined by spectroscopic analysis and comparison of the NMR data with those of related analogues. The cytotoxicities of compounds 1-8 against human ovarian cancer cell line A2780 were also evaluated.
Keywords: Sarcophyton ehrenbergi; cembranoids; marine natural product.