Summary

In the last fifteen years, we have isolated and structurally identified a large number of new compounds from different natural sources, especially from soft corals, marine sponges, tunicates, echinoderms, and microorganisms (bacteria and fungi).

The new natural products belong to a large variety of skeletons from different biogenetic origin: polyketides, terpenes, alkaloids, peptides, saponins, etc, being some of them very polar compounds. Our expertise is related to the separation of hydrophilic compounds.

In a joint collaboration with Dr. Alfonso Espada (Lilly Co, Madrid), we have developed a new approach to speed up the isolation of hydrophilic metabolites from natural sources by using a SPE methodology based on the retention properties Hydrophilic-Lipophilic Balance (HLB) cartridges.

The isolated compounds are submitted to several pharmacological assays. Cytotoxic and antitumor activities are tested through collaboration with Spanish Companies Biomar and Pharmamar SA, while Alzheimer and tuberculosis are assayed through Euroespes SL (A Coruna) and the TAACF program.