Isolation and structural determination of new sphingolipids and pharmacological activity of africanene and other metabolites from Sinularia leptoclados

Two new sphingolipids, (2S,3S,4R)-1,3,4-trihydroxy-2-[((R)-2'-hydroxytetrad ecanoyl) amino] tricosane (4) and (2S,3S,4R)-1,3,4-triacetoxy-2-[((R)-2'-ac etoxyoctadecanoyl) amino]octadecane (5) along with africanene (1, reasonabl y good yield), 23-demethylgargosterol (2) and batylalcohol (3) have been is olated from the soft coral Sinularia leptoclados. Preliminary studies for p harmacological activity (blind screening and toxicity studies) of africanen e were conducted. Africanene exhibited in vitro and in vivo cytotoxicity, d ose dependent hypotensive activity as well as antiinflammatory activity The pharmacological and toxicity studies on africanene are being reported for the first time and findings strongly encourage further investigation, Compo unds 1, 4 and 5 were studied for the antibacterial, antifungal and antivira l activity while compounds 4 and 5 were also studied for the short term in vitro cytotoxic activity.