Aplydactylonins A-C, three new sesquiterpenes from the Vietnamese sea hare Aplysia dactylomela and their cytotoxicity

Aplydactylonins A-C ( 1 – 3 ), three new sesquiterpenes, were isolated from the Vietnamese sea hare Aplysia dactylomela . Their structures and absolute configurations were elucidated based on spectroscopic analysis, X-ray crystallography, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations of NMR and ECD data. Compound 2 exhibited cytotoxicity against HepG2, DU145 and A549 cells with respective IC 50 values of 4.08 ± 0.63, 38.64 ± 1.04 and 12.33 ± 0.95 µM. In addition, HepG2 cells treated with 5 μM compound 2 for 48 h showed a significant increase in early apoptotic cells ( P