Merosesquiterpene Congeners from the Australian Sponge Hyrtios digitatus as Potential Drug Leads for Atherosclerosis Disease.

A study of the chemical constituents from the Australian Sponge has provided a perspective on the connection between the chemistry and biology of the puupehenones, a unique and unusual class of merosesquiterpenes. In this study, a new tetracyclic merosesquiterpene, 19-methoxy-9,15-ene-puupehenol () was isolated from the marine sponge along with the known 20-methoxy-9,15-ene-puupehenol (). Their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic data (¹H and C NMR) in combination with experimental electronic circular dichroism (ECD) data.