Mililatensols A–C, New Records of Sarsolenane and Capnosane Diterpenes from Soft Coral <i>Sarcophyton mililatensis</i>

Abstract

Three unusual diterpenes with rare sarsolenane and capnosane skeletons, namely mililatensols A–C (1–3), were isolated from the South China Sea soft coral Sarcophyton mililatensis, leading to the first record of sarsolenane and capnosane diterpenes from the title animal. The structures of compounds 1–3 were established by extensive spectroscopic analysis and comparison with the literature data. Moreover, the absolute configuration of 2 was determined by TDDFT ECD calculations. In an in vitro bioassay, none of the isolated compounds showed obvious anti-inflammatory activity on LPS-induced TNF-α release in RAW264.7 macrophages. In the preliminary virtual screening of inhibitory potential against SARS-CoV-2 by molecular docking, the results showed these three diterpenes were potential SARS-CoV-2 Mpro inhibitors.

Keywords

• soft coral
• <i>Sarcophyton mililatensis</i>
• sarsolenane
• capnosane
• stereochemistry
• anti-inflammatory activity