Metabolome Consistency: Additional Parazoanthines from the Mediterranean Zoanthid Parazoanthus Axinellae

Abstract

Ultra-high pressure liquid chromatography coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) analysis of the organic extract obtained from the Mediterranean zoanthid Parazoanthus axinellae yielded to the identification of five new parazoanthines F-J. The structures were fully determined by comparison of fragmentation patterns with those of previously isolated parazoathines and MS/MS spectra simulation of in silico predicted compounds according to the metabolome consistency. The absolute configuration of the new compounds has been assigned using on-line electronic circular dichroism (UHPLC-ECD). We thus demonstrated the potential of highly sensitive hyphenated techniques to characterize the structures of a whole family of natural products within the metabolome of a marine species. Minor compounds can be characterized using these techniques thus avoiding long isolation processes that may alter the structure of the natural products. These results are also of interest to identify putative bioactive compounds present at low concentration in a complex mixture.