| Summary: | Three unusual diterpenes with rare sarsolenane and capnosane skeletons, namely mililatensols A–C (<b>1</b>–<b>3</b>), were isolated from the South China Sea soft coral <i>Sarcophyton mililatensis</i>, leading to the first record of sarsolenane and capnosane diterpenes from the title animal. The structures of compounds <b>1</b>–<b>3</b> were established by extensive spectroscopic analysis and comparison with the literature data. Moreover, the absolute configuration of <b>2</b> was determined by TDDFT ECD calculations. In an in vitro bioassay, none of the isolated compounds showed obvious anti-inflammatory activity on LPS-induced TNF-<i>α</i> release in RAW264.7 macrophages. In the preliminary virtual screening of inhibitory potential against SARS-CoV-2 by molecular docking, the results showed these three diterpenes were potential SARS-CoV-2 M<sup>pro</sup> inhibitors.
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