Activity against human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) reverse transcriptase (RT) in the organic extract of the Red Sea sponge Toxiclona toxius was traced by us to five novel natural compounds, namely toxiusol [1], shaagrockol B [3], shaagrockol C [4], toxicol A [6], all of which are sulfated hexaprenoid hydroquinones, and toxicol B [7], the p-hydroquinone derivative of compound 6. The hydrolysis of the two sulfated compounds 1 and 4 yielded the corresponding hydroquinones designated as compounds 2 and 5, and further oxidation of compound 7 afforded the corresponding p-quinone derivative, compound 8. All compounds exhibited inhibitory activity of both DNA polymerizing functions of HIV-1 RT but failed to inhibit the RT-associated ribonuclease H activity. Toxiusol [1] was found to be the most potent inhibitor of the RNA-dependent DNA polymerase function (with 50% inhibition obtained at 1.5 microM and 95% inhibition at 4.6 microM), whereas the DNA-dependent DNA polymerase was significantly less sensitive to the inhibitor (with 50% inhibition achieved at 6.6 microM and 95% inhibition only at 41.6 microM). The fact that compound 1 discriminates between the two DNA polymerase activities of the RT offers new prospects for developing potent and highly specific anti-RT compounds, since the RNA-dependent DNA polymerase activity of RT is the only unique function that is not expressed at significant levels in uninfected mammalian cells.