MARINE TOXINS (1940-2017)

Marine toxins are secreted by marine organisms in order to act as a deterrent against attack from predators, parasites and fouling organisms. This paper gives a historical overview of the discovery of these chemical compounds - marine toxins –from 1940 till 2017 and describes the chemical structure of the main toxic substances as well as the analytical methods used for their identification. The use of this method as a means of studying the interaction between marine organisms and their environment, as well as evaluating the function and health of organisms at a molecular level has a number of benefits. As a consequence, there has been an increase in the application of chemical structural analysis in the marine sciences. This study draws attention to how complex chemical interactions in the marine environment are and why in depth research is required

Identification and quantification, by NMR and LC-MS, of sterols isolated from the marine sponge Aplysina aerophoba

Aplysterol, several didehydroaplysterols, and their acetylated derivatives were isolated from samples of the marine sponge Aplysina aerophoba, which had been collected on the coast of the Canary Islands, and were identified by chromatography and H-and C-NMR spectroscopy. A quantitative analysis was done, based on the relative intensities of the signals corresponding to the olefinic quaternary carbons from the C-NMR spectrum at 125 MHz. Finally, the results described were confirmed by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS).Grateful acknowledgement is made to the Canary Government (Agencia Canaria de Investigación, Innovación y Sociedad de la Información, ACIISI), and the ICIC (Instituto Canario de Investigación del Cáncer), by financial funding given to this project.Peer Reviewe