HIV-INHIBITORY COUMARINS FROM LATEX OF THE TROPICAL RAIN-FOREST TREE CALOPHYLLUM-TEYSMANNII VAR INOPHYLLOIDE

In an effort to identify an adequate and sustainable natural source of the recently described anti-HIV drug development candidate calanolide A, we undertook chemical and biological studies of the latex exuded f rom trees of the genus Calophyllum. Although we found that calanolide A was not present in latex from the original source species, C. lanige rum var. austrocoriaceum, we did observe that a related coumarin, cost atolide, was abundant in latex of C. teysmannii var. inophylloide. Cos tatolide is currently being evaluated as a possible alternative to cal anolide A for drug development.