During the present report period, new anti-HIV cyclic peptides have been identified from the tropical plant Chassalia parvifolia. These aqueous soluble metabolites currently represent the largest known peptides in which the entire amino acid backbone is cyclized via amide bonds. Further studies on plants in the genus Calophyllum provided costatolide, an HIV-inhibitory coumarin, and calanone, a novel benzoyl derivative. Methods were developed for the large scale production of conocurvone from extracts of Conospermum species and several new monomeric naphthoquinones were subsequently isolated and identified from these extracts. Further, a new cytotoxic cyclic peptide was identified from a compound ascidian (tunicate) collected in the Indo-Pacific.
