New Cytotoxic Cembranoid from Indonesian Soft Coral Sarcophyton sp.

Context: Sarcophyton is a soft coral species that contains various secondary metabolites with cytotoxic activity. The production of cytotoxic compounds in soft corals is suggested as their allelochemical to win space competition. Therefore, if a particular soft coral species dominates a reef area, it may suggest to contain interesting bioactive compounds. Aims: This research aimed to characterize the cytotoxic compounds in dominant soft coral species (Sarcophyton sp.) on the reef at the Western side of Mahengetang Island, Indonesia. Subjects and Methods: Isolation of cytotoxic compounds through ethanol extracts had been done with preparative high‑performance liquid chromatography and bioassay‑guided fractionation by MCF‑7 (breast) cancer cell lines. The structures of each cytotoxic compounds were elucidated on the basis of mass and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic studies. Results: Elucidation through all compounds found a new cembranoid, namely, 2‑hydroxy‑crassocolide E (1), alongside with 5 known cembranoids; sarcophytoxide (2), sarcrassin E (3), 3,7,11‑cembreriene‑2,15‑diol (4), 11,12‑epoxy‑Sarcophytol A (5), and sarcophytol A (6). All of these cembranoids were showed to inhibit the growth of MCF‑7 (breast) cancer, with 50% inhibition of tumor cell lines growth lower than 30 mg/L. Conclusions: Results of this study suggest that a soft coral species which dominate a reef area is a potential source for various bioactive compounds.