Seven new amino alcohol compounds, pseudoaminols A–G (1–7), were isolated from the ascidian Pseudodistoma sp. collected off the coast of Chuja-do, Korea. Structures of these new compounds were determined by analysis of the spectroscopic data and from chemical conversion. The presence of an N-carboxymethyl group in two of the new compounds (6 and 7) is unprecedented among amino alcohols. Several of these compounds exhibited moderate antimicrobial activity and cytotoxicity, as well as weak inhibitory activity toward Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase.

Four new iodobenzene-containing dipeptides (1–4), a related bromotryptophan-containing dipeptide (5), and an iodophenethylamine (6) were isolated from the ascidian Aplidium sp. collected off the coast of Chuja-do, Korea. The structures of these novel compounds, designated as apliamides A–E (1–5) and apliamine A (6) were determined via combined spectroscopic analyses. The absolute configuration of the amino acid residue in 1 was determined by advanced Marfey’s analysis. Several of these compounds exhibited moderate cytotoxicity and significant inhibition against Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase (4).

The glyoxylate cycle is a sequence of anaplerotic reactions catalyzed by the key enzymes isocitrate lyase (ICL) and malate synthase (MLS). Mutants of Candida albicans lacking ICL are markedly less virulent in mice than the wild-type. Suvanine sesterterpenes (1−9) isolated from a tropical sponge Coscinoderma sp. were evaluated for their inhibitory activities toward recombinant ICL from C. albicans. These studies led to the identification of a potent ICL inhibitor, suvanine salt (2), which possesses a sodium counterion and displays an inhibitory concentration value (IC₅₀) of 6.35 μM. The growth phenotype of ICL deletion mutants and semi-quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analyses indicated that compound 2 inhibits the ICL mRNA expression in C. albicans under C₂-carbon-utilizing conditions. The present data highlight the potential for suvanine sesterterpenes treatment of C. albicans infections via inhibition of ICL activity.