Soft corals are recognized as an abundant source of diverse secondary metabolites with unique chemical features and physiologic capabilities. However, the discovery of these metabolites is usually hindered by the traditional protocol which requires a large quantity of living tissue for isolation and spectroscopic investigations. In order to overcome this problem, untargeted metabolomics protocols have been developed. The latter have been applied here to study the chemodiversity of common Egyptian soft coral species, using only minute amounts of coral biomass. Spectral similarity networks, based on high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry data, were employed to explore and highlight the metabolic biodiversity of nine Egyptian soft coral species. Species-specific metabolites were highlighted for future prioritization of soft coral species for MS-guided chemical investigation. Overall, 79 metabolites were tentatively assigned, encompassing diterpenes, sesquiterpenes, and sterols. Simultaneously, the methodology assisted in shedding light on newly-overlooked chemical diversity with potential undescribed scaffolds. For instance, glycosylated fatty acids, nitrogenated aromatic compounds, and polyketides were proposed in Sinularia leptoclados, while alkaloidal terpenes and N-acyl amino acids were proposed in both Sarcophyton roseum and Sarcophyton acutum.

The use of herbal plants has been very common in Egypt since the Pharaohs' era until now due to their valuable medical benefits with low hazards and side effects. Saussurea costus roots are one of the plants that Egyptians recently employed to treat a variety of diseases, and it is a member of the endangered medicinal plants; thus, its adulteration and substitution with other species are common. This study aims to evaluate the quality of six commercial S. costus herbal products on the Egyptian market. The evaluation includes the examination of each product for quality of packaging standards, organoleptic and microscopical characteristics, some physicochemical parameters, phytochemical screening tests, and TLC studies. The photomicrographs displayed in this study show the presence of the main microscopical elements of S. costus. Phytochemical screening of the methanol cold extracts showed some differences in chemical composition between these products compared to recent studies. The extractive values of these products are different from what is suggested in the literature. These values revealed the probability of the presence of foreign materials in some products. TLC studies also revealed differences in the chemical profiles of these products. The results of qualitative analyses demonstrated the impurity and adulteration of S. costus powder products available on the Egyptian market. Therefore, further sophisticated chemical separation and quantitative analysis are required to determine exactly what adulterants are used in S. costus products in Egypt. This study recommendits that Egyptian consumers purchase S. costus as entire roots, not powder, and grind them themselves or under a trusted herbalist's supervision to avoid adulteration.