Using brine shrimp lethality for activity-directed fractionation, goniothalamicin (I), a new tetrahydroxy-mono-tetrahydrofuran fatty acid gamma-lactone (acetogenin), has been isolated from ethanolic extracts of the stem bark of Goniothalamus giganteus Hook. f., Thomas (Annonaceae). This novel
Goniotetracin and a mixture of (2,4-cis and trans)-gonioneninone, new, bioactive, mono-tetrahydrofuran (THF) gamma-lactone and ketolactone acetogenins, were isolated from the bark of Goniothalamus giganteus (Annonaceae) by activity-directed fractionation using the brine shrimp lethality test (BST).