Abstract:
Eleven new highly oxygenated cembrane-type diterpenoids (
1−
7 and
10−
13) and two known ones (
8−
9), were isolated from the South China Sea soft coral
Sinularia pedunculata. Their structures were elucidated by extensive spectroscopic analysis, quantum mechanical-nuclear magnetic resonance (QM-NMR) approach and X-ray diffraction analysis. Among them, compounds
3 and
4 were rare cembrane diterpenoids that featured a tetrahydropyran moiety with 5,8-ether linkage and 4,8-ether linkage, respectively, while compounds
4 and
9 inhibited HBV DNA replication with IC
50 values of 0.87 and 1.15 μmol·L
−1 in HepAD38, respectively. Mechanism investigation suggested that compound
9 accelerated the formation of capsid, but did not affect the levels of HBV cccDNA, total RNA, and pgRNA.