Marine natural products

This review covers the literature published between January and December in 2018 for marine natural products (MNPs), with 717 citations (706 for the period January to December 2018) referring to compounds isolated from marine microorganisms and phytoplankton, green, brown and red algae, sponges, cnidarians, bryozoans, molluscs, tunicates, echinoderms, mangroves and other intertidal plants and microorganisms. The emphasis is on new compounds (1554 in 469 papers for 2018), together with the relevant biological activities, source organisms and country of origin. Reviews, biosynthetic studies, first syntheses, and syntheses that led to the revision of structures or stereochemistries, have been included. The proportion of MNPs assigned absolute configuration over the last decade is also surveyed.

Terpenoids from Marine Soft Coral of the Genus Xenia in 1977 to 2019

Members of the marine soft coral genus Xenia are rich in a diversity of diterpenes. A total of 199 terpenes consisting of 14 sesquiterpenes, 180 diterpenes, and 5 steroids have been reported to date. Xenicane diterpenes were reported to be the most common chemical skeleton biosynthesized by members of this genus. Most of the literature reported the chemical diversity of Xenia collected from the coral reefs in the South China Sea and the coastal waters of Taiwan. Although there was a brief review on the terpenoids of Xenia in 2015, the present review is a comprehensive overview of the structural diversity of secondary metabolites isolated from soft coral genus Xenia and their potent biological activity as reported between 1977 to 2019.