PSEUDOPTERANE AND NORCEMBRANE DITERPENOIDS FROM THE CARIBBEAN SEA PLUME PSEUDOPTEROGORGIA-ACEROSA

A chemical study of the common Caribbean sea plume Pseudopterogorgia a cerosa from Puerto Rico has produced two previously undescribed second ary metabolites. One of them, 1, is a new representative of the pseudo pterane family of diterpenes possessing the uncommon 3,4;5,6 diepoxyfu ran moiety. The other metabolite, 2, is a rare norcembranolide diterpe ne. Their chemical structures, including relative stereochemistry, wer e established by detailed analysis of the spectral data in addition to NMR spectral comparisons with known pseudopterane and cembrane models .