Recent updates on Sinularia soft coral

Marine organisms are recognized as a rich source of bioactive secondary metabolites. The remarkable abundance and diversity of bioactive small molecules isolated from soft corals displayed their essential role in drug discovery for human diseases. Sterols and terpenes, particularly cembranolides, 14-membered cyclic diterpene, demonstrated numerous biological activities, such as antitumor, antimicrobial, antiviral, antidiabetic, anti-osteoporosis and anti-inflammatory. Accordingly, continuous investigation of marine soft corals will be the way for the discovery of a plentiful number of chemical diverse natural products with various biological potentials for prospective pharmaceutical industrial applications. Such review affords plenary inspection of the total secondary metabolites isolated from the Sinularia, from 2008 until 2020, besides their natural sources as well as bioactivities whenever possible.

Chemical Diversity and Biological Activity of Secondary Metabolites from Soft Coral Genus Sinularia since 2013

Sinularia is one of the conspicuous soft coral species widely distributed in the world’s oceans at a depth of about 12 m. Secondary metabolites from the genus Sinularia show great chemical diversity. More than 700 secondary metabolites have been reported to date, including terpenoids, norterpenoids, steroids/steroidal glycosides, and other types. They showed a broad range of potent biological activities. There were detailed reviews on the terpenoids from Sinularia in 2013, and now, it still plays a vital role in the innovation of lead compounds for drug development. The structures, names, and pharmacological activities of compounds isolated from the genus Sinularia from 2013 to March 2021 are summarized in this review.

Cytotoxic and Antifungal Terpenoids from Bornean Soft Coral, Sinularia flexibilis

One new cembrane, ent -sinuflexibilin D (1), along with seven known compounds (2-8) were isolated from a population of Bornean soft coral Sinularia flexibilis. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic analyses. Cytotoxicity and antifungal activities of these compounds were evaluated in vitro. In addition, muurolene 7 was first isolates from a marine source.