Antibacterial Butenolides from the Korean Tunicate Pseudodistoma antinboja

Six new (1, 2, and 5-8) and three known (3, 4, and 9) butenolide metabolites were isolated from the tunicate Pseudodistoma antinboja by activity-guided fractionations. The structures were elucidated by combined NMR and MS spectroscopic methods. These compounds were evaluated for their antibacterial activity, and most of them exhibited moderate to significant activity that selectively targeted Gram-positive strains and did not exhibit cytotoxicity in the MTT assay at 100 mu M. Cadiolides 5-9 in particular exhibited significant antibacterial activity that was comparable to or even better than those of marketed drugs such as vancomycin and linezolid against all of the drug-resistant strains tested.