Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 1985.

Typescript. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii, 1971. / Bibliography: leaves 159-166. / xi, 166 l illus., tables

Thesis (M.M.P.)--University of Delaware, 2009. / Principal faculty advisor: Jeremy M. Firestone, College of Marine & Earth Studies. Includes bibliographical references.

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The Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea comprise a sensitive and important region, both oceanographically and climatically. A better understanding of the history of climate and marine environmental conditions in this region provides valuable insight into the processes that affect climate globally. This dissertation furthers our understanding of these factors via investigations of the isotopes of corals and seawater, as well as coral growth. Results improve our understanding of how the isotope and coral growth records from the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea reflect recent environmental conditions, enhancing our ability to reconstruct the history of climate in this important region. Analysis of the relationship between salinity and oxygen isotopic composition of seawater from the Texas/Louisiana continental shelf and Flower Garden Banks yield improved understanding of the relative contribution of the fresh water sources into the northern Gulf of Mexico, and also the oxygen isotopic composition of open-ocean seawater in this region. Variations in the growth of long-lived coral cores from the Flower Garden Banks are compared to local and regional climate conditions, particularly winter air temperatures. During the latter half of the twentieth century, a close correlation has existed between slow coral growth and cold wintertime air temperatures along the Gulf Coast, which are due to a meridional orientation of the North American jet stream (associated with the Pacific/North American climate pattern). Existing long coral growth records are too limited to assess this relationship during earlier years. Knowledge of the marine radiocarbon (14C) reservoir age is important for understanding carbon cycling and calibrating the radiocarbon ages of marine samples. Radiocarbon concentrations in corals from the Flower Garden Banks, Veracruz, and the Cariaco Basin are measured and used to determine the surface ocean 14C reservoir ages for the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. Results also indicate that the post-nuclear weapons testing Delta 14-C values of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea differ. This difference is attributed to the advection of 14C-depleted surface water from the Southern Hemisphere into the Caribbean Sea. The results reported in this dissertation provide valuable information for understanding the marine environment when using carbonate proxies to study and reconstruct past climate and marine conditions in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean.

In order to discover and develop new drug from soft corals and gorgonian corals of Taiwan, we have searched the bioactive metabolites from the organic extracts of three soft corals Nephthea chabrolii, Sinularia manaarensis, Sinularia leptoclados, and one Gorgonian of Briareum genus. This study had led to the isolation of fifty-five natural products (1¡V55), including seventeen new meroditerpenoid-related metabolites (1¡V7 and 9¡V18), two new C18 terpenoid¡Vrelated carboxylic acids (20 and 21), three new sesquiterpenoidalnatural products (22¡V24), and two new steroids (26 and 27), along with three known compounds (8, 19, and 25) from N. chabrolii; nine new cembrane-type diterpenoids (28¡V36), along with two known cembranolides 37 and 38 from S.manaarensis; five new sesquiterpenoids (39¡V43), one steroid (47) isolated for the first time from natural sources and three known metabolites (44¡V46) from S. leptoclados; and three new briarane-type derivatives (48¡V50) and five known briarane-type compounds (51¡V55) from Briareum sp. The structures of metabolites 1¡V55, including their stereochemistries have been established by detailed spectroscopic analyses, particularly mass, 2D NMR (1H¡V1H COSY, HMQC, HMBC, and NOESY) spectroscopy and by comparison with the related physical and spectral data form other known compounds. The relative configuration of metabolite 39 was further confirmed by X-ray single-crystal analysis. Furthermore, the biosyntheses of meroditerpenoids 1, 4, 11, and 20 were proposed. To the best of our knowledge, the incorporation of a methyl group of the related meroditerpene to form a naphthoquinone as discovered herein for the first time. In above metabolites, two compounds (2 and 10) were found to exhibit significant inhibition against the growth of MCF 7, NCI-H460, and SF-268 tumor cells at 20 £gg/mL. Also, compound 2 exhibited significant cytotoxicity against the growth of MDA¡VMB¡V231cancer cell line, and moderate to weak cytotoxicity against Hep G2 and A-549 cancer cell lines and metabolite 10 exhibited moderate to weak cytotoxicity toward MDA¡VMB¡V231, Hep G2 and A-549 cancer cell lines. Furthermore, Two cembranolides (34 and 35) exhibited moderate cytotoxicity against Hepa59T/VGH, KB, Hela, and Med cell lines.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of South Florida, 2003. / Title from PDF of title page. Document formatted into pages; contains 79 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

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