Crellastatin A: A Cytotoxic Bis-Steroid Sulfate from the Vanuatu Marine Sponge Crella sp.

A new nonsymmetric dimeric steroid, crellastatin A (1), was isolated from the Vanuatu Island marine sponge Crella sp. Structural assignment was accomplished through extensive 2D NMR spectroscopy. The stereochemistry of 1 was established from an analysis of ROESY experiments and from molecular mechanics and dynamics calculations. Crellastatin A (1), which possesses an unprecedented connection through the side chains, exhibits in vitro cytotoxic activity against NSCLC-N6 cells (IC(50) of 1.5 g/mL).