Chemical diversity in the scleractinian coral Astroides calycularis

The detailed chemical inspection of the Mediterranean coral Astroides calycularis led to the isolation and structure characterization of two families of alkaloids. Derivatives of orthidine were for the first time isolated from this species. The second family of alkaloids includes the aplysinopsins among which a new derivative is described. The structure was identified on the basis of extensive NMR data interpretation. These results are of chemotaxonomic relevance in order to link this species to the Atlantic Tubastrea aurea. (C) 2013 Phytochemical Society of Europe. Published by Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.