Synthesis and evaluation of anti-inflammatory activity of derivatives of the marine natural products fuscol and eunicol

The octocoral-derived terpenes fuscol and eunicol are known, potent anti-inflammatory agents. While total syntheses of one of the parent natural products have been published, the economic and practical feasibility of producing commercially viable amounts of material is very low. Based on the observation that the characteristic dienol of fuscol, eunicol and related compounds is conserved in anti-inflammatory activity, this project aimed to remove the structural complexity of the substituted cyclohexane and cyclodecadiene of fuscol and eunicol, respectively. The synthesis of a small panel of structurally simpler fuscol/eunicol analogues was completed and five of the six new compounds were found to have slightly superior activity to the parent natural products. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.