Acerolide, a new cytotoxic cembranolide from the soft coral Pseudopterogorgia acerosa.

A new cembranolide, acerolide (1) together with the known compound pseudopterolide (2) were isolated from the 2-propanol extract of the soft coral Pseudopterogorgia acerosa. The structure of 1 was determined on the basis of detailed spectroscopic analysis. Compound 1 showed moderate in vitro cytotoxicity against a panel of 14 tumor cell lines.