A new dihydroxysterol from the marine phytoplankton Diacronema sp.

Diacronema sp. was cultured and its sterols were separated by column chromatography on silica gel. The new sterol 24-ethyl-4α-methyl-cholestane-3,20-diol (1) was characterised by NMR and MS spectrometry, as well as (22E)-24-ethyl-4α-methyl-5α-cholest-22-en-3β-ol (2) and β-sitosterol, the major components of the sterol fractions. Neither the biosynthetic origin of the new dihydroxysterol nor its role in the biochemistry of Diacronema is known.