Review Article | Volume: 16, Issue: 7, July, 2026

A Decade of Red Sea Sesquiterpenes: Chemical Diversity, Sources and Biological Activities

Ehab S. Elkhayat,  Hagar M. Mohamed,  Sabrin R. M. Ibrahim,  Gamal A. Mohamed,  and Mostafa M. Baker   

Ehab S. Elkhayat1,2, Hagar M. Mohamed3,4, Sabrin R. M. Ibrahim5,6, Gamal A. Mohamed7, and Mostafa M. Baker1

1Michael Al-Sayegh Faculty of Pharmacy, Aqaba University of Technology, Aqaba, Jordan.

2Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Azhar University, Assiut, Egypt.

3Department of Medical Laboratory Analysis, College of Medical and Health Sciences, Liwa University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

4Department of Applied Medical Chemistry, Medical Research Institute, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.

5Department of Chemistry, Preparatory Year Program, Batterjee Medical College, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

6Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt.

7Department of Natural Products and Alternative Medicine, Faculty of Pharmacy, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Open Access   

Published:  May 24, 2026

DOI: 10.1177/22313354261438280
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Abstract

The Red Sea is a promising, underexplored habitat for the discovery of new bioactive marine natural products. This review provides a comprehensive survey of sesquiterpenes isolated from Red Sea organisms between 2015 and 2025. It emphasises chemistry, biological potential, and collection sites. A total of 115 compounds, including 30 new structures, were reported from 25 species across 17 genera. The reported findings demonstrated a broad spectrum of biological activities, including cytotoxic, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, antimalarial, and antioxidant effects. However, the reported data and findings have stressed continued exploration of Red Sea organisms to support future drug discovery initiatives.


Keyword:     Red Sea sesquiterpenes biological activity corals sponges algae cytotoxicity

Citation:

Elkhayat ES, Mohamed HM, Ibrahim SRM, Mohamed GA, Baker MM. A Decade of Red Sea Sesquiterpenes: Chemical Diversity, Sources and Biological Activities. J Appl Pharm Sci. 2026;16(7):229-243. https://doi.org/10.1177/22313354261438280

Copyright: © The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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