Isolation and characterization of antiviral compounds from marine organisms

Abstract

Metridium senile, Halocynthia pyriformis and ParaParastichopus tremulus were subjected to organic and aqueous extraction. The aqueous extract was made with water, while the organic was made with dichloromethane and methanol in 1:1 ratio. The aqueous and organic extracts were fractionated on reversed-phase HPLC and tested for antiviral activity against Herpes simplex virus-1. All the three organisms displayed anti-viral activity in the primary screening, but when retested their activity were lost. During the work with the thesis Dendrodoa aggregata was included.Screening of D.aggregata had shown that deoxytubastrine had antiviral activity in pilot studies. Tubasterine has shown antiviral activity in earlier studies so it was decided to purify and test deoxytubastrine against HSV-1. Analysis on LC-MS ESI-TOF in positive mode indicated the active compound with m/z 178.0906 amu which gave us the elemental composition C9H11N30. The identity of deoxytubastrine was confirmed by LC-MS ESI-TOF in positive mode and 1H-NMR. However, pure deoxytubastrine did not show any pronounced anti-viral activity.