Secondary Metabolites Isolated from Chilean Marine Algae: A Review

• Published in: Marine Drugs
• Main Authors: Dioni Arrieche, Héctor Carrasco, Andrés F. Olea, Luis Espinoza, Aurelio San-Martín, Lautaro Taborga
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2022
• Subjects: marine natural products; secondary metabolites; Chilean algae; biological activities; biosynthesis; structure elucidation; Biology (General); QH301-705.5; Antarctic; Chilean Antarctic Territory; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/md20050337; https://doaj.org/article/bae951ae3a69409f9021390cbc7c36d9

Chile is in the extreme southwestern part of America, and it has an extreme length, of approximately 4300 km that increases to 8000 km considering the Chilean Antarctic Territory. Despite the large extent of its coastal territory and the diversity of geographic environments and climates associated with Chilean coasts, the research on marine resources in Chile has been rather scarce. From marine organisms found in Chilean coastal waters, algae have been the most studied, since they contain a wide range of interesting secondary metabolites that have some structural traits that make them unique and uncharacteristic. Thus, a wide structural variety of natural products including terpenoids (monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, diterpenes, and meroterpenoids), furanones, and C 15 -acetogenins have been isolated and identified. This review describes the existing literature on bioprospecting and exploration of secondary metabolites from Chilean coasts.