Eight species of brown algae (Phaeophyceae) from the coast of Madagascar have been investigated for their chemical constituents. Fucosterol (3) was obtained as the most abundant compound. The brown alga Sargassum ilicifolium was the source for the first isolation of the terpenoid C27-alcohol 1,1',2-trinorsqualenol (1) from marine sources. From S. incisifolium we isolated the highly unsaturated glycolipid 1-O-palmitoyl-2-O-stearidonoyl-3-O-β-D-galactopyranosylglycerol (4) and we report the first full assignment of its (1)H and (13)C NMR data. Apo-9'-fucoxanthinone (8) along with 24-ketocholesterol (5), (22E)-3β-hydroxycholesta-5,22-dien-24-one (6), and saringosterol (7) were obtained from Turbinaria ornata. The crude extracts of all eight species of brown algae exhibited a pronounced antimicrobial activity against the Gram-positive bacteria Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus pneumoniae.
Keywords: Antimicrobial activity; Brown algae; NMR spectroscopy; Steroids; Terpenoids.