The marine sponge Stylissa aff. massa. contains the unusual alkaloid massadine and several other biologically highly active alkaloids. Some of them are potent inhibitors of enzymes (protein kinase MEK-1, GGTase I). From 900 g of the sponge only a few mg of alkaloid could be extracted. This triggered other laboratories to synthesize these alkaloids and derivatives of it. All this work is intended to understand the synthesis of these compounds in the organisms and to make the compounds available in useful quantities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lit.: A. Grube, S. Immel, P.S. Baran, M. Köck, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 46 (2007) 6721.