Abstract
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•3 New suberitanes derivatives were isolated from the Antarctic sponge Phorbas areolatus.•They represent new examples of sesterterpenoids of the suberitane families found in Antarctic sponges.•Two of them exhibit moderate cytotoxicity on tumoral cell lines.•This finding rules out suberitanes as chemotaxonomic markers of the genus Suberites.
Following ecological and chemical screenings, the Antarctic sponge Phorbas areolatus was chemically investigated for the first time. Three new suberitane derivatives named isosuberitenone B, 19-episuberitenone B, and isoxaspirosuberitenone were identified together with the known compounds suberitenones A and B, and oxaspirosuberitenone after a thorough inspection of their NMR data. These compounds were found to exhibit moderate cytotoxic activity and their presence in this sponge rules out their use as a chemotaxonomic marker for Suberites sponges.