Novel marine polyethers

The red seaweed Laurencia viridis is a rich source of secondary metabolites derived from squalene, Novel polyethers, clavidol 4, 3-epi-1111-dehydrothyrsiferol 5, and lactodehydrothyrsiferol 6, have been isolated and their structures established by spectroscopical methods. The relative steroechemistry proposed for these compounds is based on ROESY and NOEDIFF data. Possible biogenetic pathways are also discussed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.