New rubrolides from the ascidian Synoicum blochmanni

The ascidian Synoicum blochmanni has been investigated as a part of our ong oing project directed towards the search for pharmacologically active marin e natural products. The chemical study of S. blochmanni has afforded, in ad dition to four known compounds, six new members of the rubrolide family. Th eir structures were defined by spectroscopic methods with special emphasis in 1D and 2D NMR and MS. The cytotoxicities exhibited by the compounds of S , blochmanni against several cancer cell lines are presented. (C) 2000 Else vier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.