Constituents of Crinoidea, 4. Isolation and Structure of Ceramides and Glucocerebrosides from the Feather Star Comanthus japonica

Five ceramides, JC-1—JC-5, and four glucocerebrosides, JCer-1—JCer-4, have been isolated from their parent ceramide and glucocerebroside molecular species JC and JCer obtained from the less polar lipid fraction of the chloroform/methanol extract of the feather star Comanthus japonica. The structures of these sphingolipids have been determined on the basis of chemical and spectroscopic evidence. Reversed-phase HPLC was effective at isolating these sphingolipids, revealing very close resemblance in their structures. JC-1, JC-3, JC-4, JC-5 and JCer-2, JCer-4 are newly found ceramides and glucocerebrosides, respectively.