Pinnamine, an alkaloidal marine toxin, isolated from Pinna muricata

Pinnamine, a novel marine alkaloid, was isolated from the Okinawan bivalve Pinna muricata. Pinnamine was determined to be an alkaloid containing a dihydropyrone ring by spectroscopic analysis. The relative stereostructure of pinnamine was determined by an analysis of coupling constants and NOE experiments; the absolute stereostructure was determined by an analysis of the circular dichroism spectrum. Pinnamine exhibited significant acute toxicity against mice.