Abstract
Crude extracts of specimens from five populations of the Brazilian brown seaweed Dictyota mertensii (Martius) Kützing were analysed by HRGC-MS. A total of seven diterpenoids were identified: pachydictyol A (1), isopachydictyol A (2), dictyol B and its natural acetate (3–4), dictyoxide (5), dictyol C (6), dictyol H (7), and fucosterol (8), the last being the most abundant metabolite in four of the extracts. The results confirm that small-scale local variability in the chemicals found in D. mertensii probably is more significant than the overall latitudinal differences commonly observed in some marine organisms.
