Thuwalamides A–E (1, 3, 5, 6 and 8), previously undescribed polychlorinated
amides, along with ten previously reported related compounds (2, 4, 7 and 9–15), were isolated from the organic extract of the marine sponge
Lamellodysidea herbacea (Keller), collected off the village of Thuwal in the Red Sea at Saudi Arabia. The structures of the isolated compounds have been determined through extensive analysis of their
NMR and MS data, while their absolute
stereochemistry was unequivocally established via
single crystal X-ray diffraction. Additionally, the absolute stereochemistry of the previously reported compounds 2 and 4, whose configuration was not determined, has also been established using single-crystal X-ray crystallographic analysis. The
antibacterial activity of compounds 1–15 was evaluated against
Escherichia coli and
Staphylococcus aureus. Among them, compound 14 displayed activity against
S. aureus comparable to
vancomycin that was used as a positive control with a MIC value of 4 μg/mL.