Natural Products from Corals

Abstract

Cnidarians (mainly corals) are one of the most important resources of marine natural products (MNPs). Corals have rich species diversity, with more than 10 orders having 7000 species been found. The orders Alcyonacea (soft corals) and Gorgonacea (sea fans) which are referred to as ahermatypes, or non-reef building corals, have contributed with promising bioactive marine compounds. Till now, there have been more than 5800 compounds obtained from corals all over the world, attributing almost 20{\%} of the total MNPs. These secondary metabolites are mostly representative as terpenoids and steroids. More than a hundred of the coral-derived natural products have great potential for the development of new pharmaceuticals and antifoulants. In this section, the research progress on coral-derived MNPs during the past two decades was included, mainly focusing on five points: (1) coral-produced structures with brand-new skeleton, (2) coral-derived MNPs with significant bioactivities, (3) some representative approaches on total synthesis of coral-derived novel compounds, (4) a short review of the coral-derived compounds in preclinical and clinical development, and (5) Conclusion.