Antimicrobial and Cytotoxic Activities of Synthetically Derived Tambjamines C and E - J, BE-18591, and a Related Alkaloid from the Marine Bacterium Pseudoalteromonas tunicata

In the first comprehensive biological assessment of the tambjamine class of marine alkaloids, synthetically derived samples of compounds 1–9 have been subjected to evaluation as antimicrobial agents and screened for their cytotoxic effects on various human cancer cell lines. Most were strongly active against the fungus Malassezia furfur (>amphotericin B) and showed considerable, but non‐selective, antiproliferative activity against both human cancer and normal cell lines. Tambjamines I and J (6 and 7, resp.) displayed significant apoptosis‐inducing effects.