Department of Chemistry, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa. M.Davies-Coleman@ru.ac.za
An examination of an organic extract of the cyanobacterium Lyngbya majuscula, collected from Wasini Island off the southern Kenyan coast, led to the isolation of the known cyclic depsipeptide antanapeptin A (1), recently isolated from a Madagascan collection of L. majuscula, and a new bioactive cyclic depsipeptide, homodolastatin 16 (2). The structures of these two compounds were determined from NMR and mass spectrometry data. Homodolastatin 16, a higher homologue of the potential anticancer agent dolastatin 16, exhibited moderate activity against oesophageal and cervical cancer cell lines.