New cytotoxic sesquiterpenes from the red algae Laurencia obtusa and Laurencia microcladia

Three new sesquiterpenes (1-3), along with five known (5-9), were isolated from the organic extract of the red alga Laurencia obtusa, collected from the coastal rocks of Serifos in the Aegean Sea. A new dimeric sesquiterpene of the cyclolaurane-type (4) along with four previously reported (7, 10-12) metabolites, were isolated from the extract of Laurencia microcladia, collected at Chios island in the North Aegean Sea. The structures and the relative stereochemistry of the compounds are proposed on the basis of their spectral data. The cytotoxicity of the isolated metabolites was evaluated against several cell lines including human tumor cell lines.