Abstract
Sarcophine (
1
) is a furanocembranoid diterpene first reported from the Red Sea soft coral
Sarcophyton glaucum with remarkable yields of up to 3% dry weight. Semisynthetic transformation of the lactone to lactam in sarcophine by reaction with benzyl and ethylamine afforded six new
N-substituted azasarcophines (
2–
7
), in addition to an asymmetric novel dimer
8
. The in vitro activity of azasarcophines against
Palsmodium falciparium (D6 clone) and
P. falciparium (W2 clone) are also discussed.
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