New cytotoxic N-methylated beta-carboline alkaloids from the marine ascidian Eudistoma gilboverde

Bioassay-guided fractionation of an extract of the marine ascidian Eudistom a gilboverde provided three new beta -carboline alkaloids identified as 2-m ethyleudistomin D (1), 2-methyleudistomin J (2), and 14-methyleudistomidin C (3). Six known metabolites, eudistomins C, D (4), E, J (5), K, and L, wer e also isolated and characterized. The structures of the new metabolites we re elucidated by spectroscopic analyses and by comparison of their spectral data with related literature values. Of the three now compounds, 14-methyl eudistomidin C (3) exhibited the most potent cytotoxic activity with IC50's of < 1.0 mug/mL against four different human tumor cell lines.