2,5-Diketopiperazines (2,5-DKPs) are an important category of structurally diverse cyclic dipeptides with prominent biological properties. These 2,5-DKPs have been obtained from a variety of natural resources, including marine organisms. Because of the increasing numbers and biological importance of these compounds, this review covers 90 marine originated 2,5-DKPs that were reported from 2009 to the first half-year of 2014. The review will focus on the structure characterizations, biological properties and proposed biosynthetic processes of these compounds.

Sargassum naozhouense is a brown seaweed used in folk medicine and applied for thousands of years in Zhanjiang, Guangdong province, China. This study is the first time to investigate its chemical composition and antiviral activity. On the dry weight basis, this seaweed was constituted of ca. 35.18% ash, 11.20% protein, 1.06% lipid and 47.73% total carbohydrate, and the main carbohydrate was water-soluble polysaccharide. The protein analysis indicated the presence of essential amino acids, which accounted for 36.35% of the protein. The most abundant fatty acids were C14:0, C16:0, C18:1 and C20:4. The ash fraction analysis indicated that essential minerals and trace elements, such as Fe, Zn and Cu, were present in the seaweed. IR analysis revealed that polysaccharides from cultivated S. naozhouense may be alginates and fucoidan. The polysaccharides possessed strong antiviral activity against HSV-1 in vitro with EC₅₀ of 8.92 μg/mL. These results demonstrated cultivated S. naozhouense has a potential for its use in functional foods and antiviral new drugs.

Nucleosides are glycosylamines that structurally form part of nucleotide molecules, the building block of DNA and RNA. Both nucleosides and nucleotides are vital components of all living cells and involved in several key biological processes. Some of these nucleosides have been obtained from a variety of marine resources. Because of the biological importance of these compounds, this review covers 68 marine originated nucleosides and their synthetic analogs published up to June 2014. The review will focus on the structures, bioactivities, synthesis and biosynthetic processes of these compounds.

A new fungal strain, displaying strong toxic activity against brine shrimp larvae, was isolated from a deep sea sediment sample collected at a depth of 1300 m. The strain, designated as F00120, was identified as a member of the genus Penicillium on the basis of morphology and ITS sequence analysis. One new sesquiterpene quinone, named penicilliumin A (1), along with two known compounds ergosterol (2) and ergosterol peroxide (3), were isolated and purified from the cultures of F00120 by silica gel column, Sephadex LH-20 column, and preparative thin layer chromatography. Their structures were elucidated by detailed nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectroscopic (MS) analysis as well as comparison with literature data. The new compound penicilliumin A inhibited in vitro proliferation of mouse melanoma (B16), human melanoma (A375), and human cervical carcinoma (Hela) cell lines moderately.

A new C₁₁-norisoprenoid derivative, sargassumone (1), has been isolated from Sargassum naozhouense together with six known norisoprenoids and a highly oxygenated cyclopentene: (2R,6S,8S,9S)-hexahydro-2,9-dihydroxy-4,4,8-trimethyl-6-acetyloxy-3(2H)-benzofuranone (2), (6S,8S,9R)-hexahydro-6,9-dihydroxy-4,4,8-trimethyl-2(2H)-benzofuranone (3), (6S,8S,9R)-hexahydro-6,9-dihydroxy-4,4,8-trimethyl-2(2H)-benzofuranone (4), loliolide (5), (+)-epiloliolide (6), spheciospongones A (7), and (+)-kjellmanianone (8). Compound 1 was identified on the basis of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectrometry (MS) analysis, and the absolute stereochemistry was defined by NOESY spectroscopy, minimizing energy calculation, and circular dichroism (CD) spectra. The known compounds 2–8, isolated from S. naozhouense for the first time, were identified by comparison of their physical and spectroscopic data with those reported in the literature. Compound 6 was tested for its inhibitory activity against protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B), antioxidant activity with 1,1-diphyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radicals, and antimicrobial activity against resistant clinical isolates of Candida albicans, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and Escherichia coli.

Five new cembrane diterpenoids, named sinuflexibilins A–E (1–5), along with nine other known diterpenoids (6–14), have been isolated from the organic extract of a Hainan soft coral Sinularia sp. Their structures were determined on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analyses and by comparison of their spectral data with those of related metabolites. Compound 13, flexibilide, exhibited significant inhibitory activity of NF-κB activation using the cell-based HEK293 NF-κB luciferase reporter gene assay.