Cembrane diterpenes as chemotaxonomical markers for Sinularia flexibilis

Chemical extraction of the soft coral Sinularia flexibilis collected from Mantanani Island, Kota Belud, Sabah has led to the isolation of ten known cembrane diterpenes. The chemical structures of isolated compounds were elucidated based on 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR spectroscopic data. This is the first record of chemical analysis of S. flexibilis from the waters of Malaysia. Identical secondary metabolites isolated from S. flexibilis from other regions suggest the use of these cembrane diterpenes as possible chemotaxonomical markers for this genus of soft coral.