A new polyacetylene compound, isopetrosynol (1), was isolated from the Okinawan marine sponge Halichondria cf. panicea together with petrosynol (2), adociacetylene D (3), (5R)-3,15,27-triacontatriene-1,29-diyn-5-ol (4), and petrosterol (5). The structure of 1 was assigned on the basis of spectroscopic data for 1 and 2. Compound 1 inhibited protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) activity with an IC50 value of 8.2+/-0.3 mu M, while compound 2, a diastereomer of 1, showed only 28.9+/-4.5% inhibition at 21.6 mu M. The IC50 values of compounds 3 and 4 were 7.8+/-0.5 and 12.2+/-0.5 mu M, respectively. Oleanolic acid, a positive control, inhibited PTP1B activity at 0.7+/-0.1 mu M (IC50) in the same experiment. The inhibitory activity of 1 was stronger than that of its diastereomer (2). This is the first study to show the inhibitory effects of polyacetylene compounds on PTP1B.