THE CHEMISTRY OF THE CYSTOSEIRACEAE (FUCALES, PHEOPHYCEAE) - CHEMOTAXONOMIC RELATIONSHIPS

This review presents the chemistry of secondary metabolites isolated f rom the Cystoseiraceae and its contribution to the identification of s pecies belonging to the major genera of this family. It completes Piat telli's review on the chemistry and taxonomy of Sicilian Cystoseira sp ecies which was presented at the Sixth International Symposium on Mari ne Natural Products, held in Dakar, 1989 [Piatelli, M. (1990) New J. C hem 14, 777-782]. In particular, the chemical studies of Cystoseira sp ecies from Atlantic and some other Mediterranean Coasts are reported w ith those of other genera from the Cystoseiraceae family, such as Bifu rcaria, Halidrys and Cystophora. This review is limited to secondary m etabolities-diterpenoids essentially-isolated from the lipid extract o f studied species (literature up to January 1995).