Abstract
Two new marine steryl hexadecanoates, 3-hexadecanoylcholest-5-en-7-one (1) and 3-hexadecanoylcholest-5-en-7-ol (2), along with seven known compounds, cholest-5-en-3-yl-formate (3), thymidine (4), indole-3-carboxaldehyde (5), 3-hydroxycholest-5-en-7-one (6), cholesterol (7), 22-dehydrocholestrol (8), and 24-methylenecholesterol (9), were isolated from the anthozoan black coral, Antipathes dichotoma. The structures of all isolated compounds were determined by interpretation of their spectral data 1D (H-1, C-13 and DEPT) and 2D (COSY, HSQC and HMBC) NMR, UV, IR, and MS. Compounds 1-5 were evaluated for their anticancer activities, employing four cancer panels; HepG2, WI 38, VERO, and MCF-7. All tested compounds, except 4, showed moderate activities. Compound 4 exhibited significant anticancer activity against VERO and MCF-7, with IC50 20.5 and 20.2 mu g/mL, respectively.