Chlorocyclopropane Macrolides from the Marine Sponge Phorbas sp. Assignment of the Configurations of Phorbasides A and B by Quantitative CD

Two new chlorocyclopropane macrolides, phorbasides A and B, have been characterized from the sponge Phorbas sp. that previously yielded phorboxazoles A and B. We describe the assignment of the absolute configuration of the trans -chlorocyclopropane ring that exploits a CD Cotton effect arising from hyperconjugation to the ene-yne chromophore. Phorbasides and callipeltoside A share the same macrolide configurations but, unexpectedly, opposite cyclopropane configurations.