Agelas dendromorpha

This class includes only agelastatins A-D (60-65), a family of tetracyclic oroidin derivatives isolated from Agelas dendromorpha [92,93] and Cymbastela sp. [94]. The absolute configuration of these molecules was deduced through the application of exciton-coupling techniques [93]. 

In 1993, Pietra and coworkers at the University of Trento in Italy reported their isolation of the powerful antitumor alkaloid, (-)-agelastatin A, from aqueous extracts of Agelas dendromorpha, an axinellid sponge indigenous to waters of the Coral Sea off New Caledonia (Scheme 1)." Its absolute stereochemistry was deduced by a range of spectroscopic methods, including a new application of the exciton spitting technique. 

D Ambrosio, M., Guerriero, A., Debitus, C., Ribes, O., Pusset, J., Leroy, S., Pietra, F., (1993). Agelastatin A, a new skeleton eytotoxic alkaloid of the oroidin family. Isolation from the axinellid sponge Agelas dendromorpha of the Coral Sea. J. Chem. Soc. Chem. Comm. 16, 1305-1306. 

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