Abstract
Three new diterpenes named gersemiols A-C (1-3) and a new eunicellane diterpene, eunicellol A (4), have been isolated together with the known sesquiterpene (+)-alpha-muurolene (5) from the Arctic soft coral Gersemia fruticosa. The name gersemiane was assigned to the rare and unnamed diterpene skeleton of compounds 1-3 corresponding to 4-isopropyl-1,5,8a-trimethyltetradecahydrophenanthrene. The chemical structures were elucidated on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analysis (HR-ESIMS, 1D and 2D NMR) as well as coupling constant calculations for the determination of the relative configurations. All compounds were tested for their antimicrobial activity against several bacteria and fungi and eunicellol A was found to exhibit moderate and selective antibacterial activity.