Alcyonium octocorals: Potential source of diverse bioactive terpenoids

Abstract

Alcyonium corals are benthic animals, which live in different climatic areas, including temperate, Antarctic and sub-Antarctic waters. They were found to produce different chemical substances with molecular diversity and unique architectures. These metabolites embrace several terpenoidal classes with different functionalities. This wide array of structures supports the productivity of genus Alcyonium. Yet, majority of the reported compounds are still biologically unscreened and require substantial efforts to explore their importance. This review is an entryway to push forward the bio-investigation of this genus. It covers the era from the beginning of reporting metabolites from Alcyonium up to March 2019. Ninety-two metabolites are presented; forty-two sesquiterpenes, twenty-five diterpenes and twenty-five steroids have been reported from sixteen species.