Eunicella cavolini

Showing that Mother Nature may follow chemists rather than the reverse, or conversely that it was always there but the natural products chemists were slow off the mark , arabinosyladenine (Ara-A or Vidarabine, 46, Figure 10) was synthesized in 1960 as a potential antitumor agent but was later produced by fermentation of Streptomyces antibioticus ViV A l>21> , and isolated, together with spongouridine, from a Mediterranean gorgonian (Eunicella cavolini) in 1984.°... 

Although the marine environment is a plentiful source of interesting new products with pharmaceutical potential, only a few of these marine natural products have reached the stage of commercial production. Arabinofuranosyladenine (ara-A, isolated from the Gorgonian Eunicella cavolini) [210] is the unique marine secondary metabolite currently in clinical use and is one of most potent antiviral drugs [211]. The second one is avarol, a sesquiterpene hydroquinone isolated from the sponge... 

Isol. from the marine gorgonian Eunicella cavolini and Streptomyces spp. Antiviral agent shows significant activity against Herpes simplex and vaccinia viruses in cell cultures and in experimental animals. Nucleoside transporter substrate. 

C12H15N5O5 309.281 Isol. from Eunicella cavolini. Antiviral agent. Cryst. (MeOH). Sol. MeOH, butanol, H2O poorly sol. CHCI3, hexane. Mp 214-215°. Xmax 258 (e 14000) (MeOH) (Berdy). 

C9H12N2O6 244.204 Isol. from the Caribbean sponge Crypto-tethia crypta and the gorgonian Eunicella cavolini. Drug intermed. Cryst. (MeOH). Sol. H2O. Mp 220-221° (226-228°). 

Cimino, G., De Rosa, S., and De Stefano, S. (1984c) Antiviral agents from a gorgonian, Eunicella cavolini one previously found in the sponge Cryptotethya crypta. Experientia, 40, 339-340. 

Mancini, L, Guella, G., Zibrowius, G., Laurent, D., and Pietra, F. (1999a) A novel type of a second epoxy bridge in eunicellane diterpenes isolation and characterization of massileunicellins A-C from the gorgonian Eunicella cavolini. Hdv. Chim. Acta, 82, 1681-1689. 

Eunicella cavolini collected in Greece (Maliakos Gulf). This same sterol has also been isolated from the ascidian Trididemnum inarmatum from the same location (loannou et al, 2009a). 

Few purine bases and nucleosides have been isolated from Octocorallia, but recall the historical significance of the discovery of arabinosyladenine (Ara-A) in the gorgo-nian Eunicella cavolini (see Chapter 4) and the identification of caffeine in the two gorgonians Paramuricea chamaleon (Imre et al., 1987) and Villagorgia rubra (Espada et al., 1993). 

Eunicella cavolini Cimino, De Rosa, and De Stefano, 1984c... 

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