Cytotoxic Podophyllotoxin Type-Lignans from the Steam Bark of <em>Bursera fagaroides </em>var. <em>fagaroides</em>

The hydroalcoholic extract of the steam bark of B. fagaroides var. fagaroides displayed potent cytotoxic activity against four cancer cell lines, namely KB (ED₅₀ = 9.6 × 10^-2 μg/mL), PC-3 (ED₅₀ = 2.5 × 10^-1 μg/mL), MCF-7 (ED₅₀ = 6.6 μg/mL), and HF-6 (ED₅₀ = 7.1 × 10^-3 μg/mL). This extract also showed anti-tumour activity when assayed on mice inoculated with L5178Y lymphoma cells. Bioactivity-directed isolation of this extract, afforded seven podophyllotoxin-type lignans identified as podophyllotoxin (1), β-peltatin-A-methylether (2), 5'-desmethoxy-β-peltatin-A-methylether (3), desmethoxy-yatein (4), desoxypodophyllotoxin (5), burseranin (6), and acetyl podophyllotoxin (7) by 1D and 2DNMR and FAB-MS analyses, and comparison with reported values. All the isolated compounds showed potent cytotoxic activity in the cell lines tested, especially compound 3, which exhibited greater activity than camptothecin and podophyllotoxin against PC-3 (ED₅₀ = 1.0 × 10^-5 μg/mL), and KB (ED₅₀ = 1.0 × 10^-5 μg/mL). This is the first report of the isolation of podophyllotoxin and its acetate in a Bursera species.     

Synthesis and antitumor activities of novel 1,4-substituted phthalazine derivatives

<正>A series of 1,4-substituted phthalazine derivatives were designed and synthesized.All the prepared compounds were screened for their cytotoxic activities against A549.HT-29 and MDA-MB-231 cell lines in vitro.Among them,compounds 7a-7h showed excellent selectivity for MDA-MB-231 cell line with IC_(50) values from 1 nmol/L to 0.92μmol/L.A preliminary SAR study of these derivatives was performed.     

Synthesis and Cytotoxicity Testing of New Amido-Substituted Triazolopyrrolo[2,1-<em>c</em>][1,4]benzodiazepine (PBDT) Derivatives

A series of amido-substituted triazolopyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepine (PBDT) derivatives was synthesized from isatoic anhydride, and their cytotoxicity against the MRC-5 and Mahlavu cell lines was evaluated. The results suggest that compound PBDT-7i with the meta-trifluoromethylbenzoyl substituent can selectively inhibit the growth of Mahlavu cells and has low toxicity towards MRC-5 cells.     

β-Lactam derivatives as potential anti-cancer compounds

A number of 1,4-diaryl-3-methylene substituted β-lactams, the addition products obtained from their reactions with N-, S-, and C-nucleophiles, and diverse related compounds were prepared, and a selection of 43 compounds was screened in preliminary tests as anti-tumor compounds by using 4 or 5 human cancer cell lines of diverse origins. Twelve compounds were highly active against all cell lines, 6 showed low activity, 12 no activity, and 13 exhibited a selective activity against a human small cell lung carcinoma cell line.     

Organogelation and cytotoxic evolution of phosphonate ester functionalised hydrophobic alkanediamide motifs

Here we report various rigid alkanediamide derivatives, with three different substitution patterns of phosphonate ester for investigation of organogelation properties. The gelation properties of these compounds can be tuned by altering the number and position of the phosphonate esters. It was found that supramolecular self-assembly of the bisphosphonate esters (1a, 1d, 1h and 2a–b) resulted gel formation, whereas that of the tetraphosphonate esters (3a, 3d, 3h) resulted in construction of nanospheres and microspheres. The diverse morphology of the gel formation appears to depend predominantly on the substituted phenyl ring of the phosphonate ester functionality. Subsequent in vitro cytotoxic screening against four human tumour cell lines (A549, MDA-MB-231, MCF-7 and HeLa) using MTT assays revealed that derivatives 1f–h and 3a show cytotoxic potencies at concentrations less than 5 μM (IC₅₀ values). Compounds 1f–h exhibited promising activity against A549 cell line, 1g–h were highly effective against MDA-MB-231, 1f and 3a show potential against MCF-7 and 1f–g were active against the HeLa cell line.     

Synthesis and cytotoxic evaluation of new colchicine derivatives bearing 1, 3, 4-thiadiazole moieties

In search of novel anticancer agents, a series of N-methyl colchiceinamide derivatives (7a-7i) containing 1,3,4-thiadiazole moieties were synthesized, and their structures were confirmed by spectral analysis. Cytotoxicity of these compounds was evaluated by MTT assay in vitro against four human tumor cell lines, i.e. A2780, A549, BEL7402, and MCF-7. The results indicated that most of the derivatives showed significant anticancer activities, particularly, compounds 7h and 7i showed more potent cytotoxic activities of all screened cancer cells than colchicine.     

Synthesis and Bioactivity Evaluation of New 6-Aryl-5-cyano Thiouracils as Potential Antimicrobial and Anticancer Agents

Several novel 6-aryl-5-cyano thiouracil derivatives were synthesized and explored for their activities as antibacterial, antifungal and anticancer agents. The antimicrobial evaluation revealed that compounds 7b and 7c possessed superior antibacterial activity against the Gram positive bacteria S. aureus and B. subtilis compared to the reference drug amoxicillin. Moreover, compound 4i was found to be a broad spectrum antimicrobial agent and it also exhibited the highest antifungal activity against C. albicans, even higher than the reference drug amphotericin B (MIC = 2.34, 3.00 μg/mL respectively). Selected compounds were tested for in vitro cytotoxicity at a single 10^-5 M concentration in accordance to the NCI (USA) protocol. The preliminary screening results showed that most of the compounds had limited cytotoxic activity against renal cancer UO-31 and/or A498 cell lines. Nevertheless, compounds 6d and 6i displayed potent growth inhibitory effect toward non-small cell lung cancer HOP-92 and leukemia MOLT-4 cell lines, respectively.     

Synthesis,Cytotoxic Activity Evaluation of Novel 1,2,3‐Triazole Linked Quinazoline Derivatives

A series of novel 1,2,3‐triazole‐quinazoline derivatives were synthesized in five steps starting from anthranilamide by conventional methods. All the title compounds 10a — 10r were evaluated for cytotoxic activity against four human cancer cell lines (MGC ‐803, EC ‐109, MCF ‐7 and HGC ‐27) using MTT assay in vitro . Some of the synthesized compounds exhibited moderate to potent activity against tested cancer cell lines. Among them, compounds 10 h and 10q exhibited excellent growth inhibition against HGC ‐27 and compound 10 m also possessed excellent activity against MCF ‐7, with IC₅₀ values less than 1 µmol/L. Especially, compound 10 h was more cytotoxic than 5‐fluorouracil against all tested four human cancer cell lines.     

An Efficient One‐Pot Synthesis of New Coumarin Derivatives as Potent Anticancer Agents under Microwave Irradiation

An efficient and rapid synthesis of coumarin derivatives was accomplished via reactions of 3‐(3‐(4‐methoxyphenyl)acryloyl)‐2H ‐chromen‐2‐one ( 3 ) with different carbon nucleophiles such as ethyl acetoacetate, ethyl cyanoacetate, malononitrile, and ethyl benzoylacetate via conventional heating and microwave irradiation conditions and were used as source of pyran and pyridine derivatives bearing coumarin moiety 4 – 11 . Compound 9a was condensed with different carbon electrophiles triethylorthoformate, phenylisothiocyanate, carbon disulfide, benzoylchloride, and acetylchloride that afforded the corresponding chromen derivatives 12 – 16 . All the newly synthesized compounds were characterized by elemental and spectroscopic evidences. All of synthesized compounds were tested for in vitro cytotoxicity. The preliminary screening results showed that most of the compounds had moderate cytotoxic activity against HCT‐116 and MCF‐7 cell lines. Nevertheless, compound 10 exhibited potent activity against the two cell lines, which was comparable with the standard drug 5‐fluorouracil.     

β-Lactam derivatives as potential anti-cancer compounds

A number of 1,4-diaryl-3-methylene substituted β-lactams, the addition products obtained from their reactions with N-, S-, and C-nucleophiles, and diverse related compounds were prepared, and a selection of 43 compounds was screened in preliminary tests as anti-tumor compounds by using 4 or 5 human cancer cell lines of diverse origins. Twelve compounds were highly active against all cell lines, 6 showed low activity, 12 no activity, and 13 exhibited a selective activity against a human small cell lung carcinoma cell line. Correspondence: Hans-Hartwig Otto, Department of Pharmaceutical/Medicinal Chemistry (PMC), Institute of Pharmacy, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University, 17487 Greifswald, Germany.     

Synthesis, cytotoxicity and calcium antagonist activity of novel imidazolyl derivatives of 1,8-acridinediones

A series of novel imidazolyl derivatives of fully and partially hydrogenated 1,8-acridinediones were synthesized and assessed for their cytotoxic activity on four different human cancer cell lines (HeLa, MCF-7, LS-180, and Raji cells). Although being inactive on LS-180 and Raji cell lines, the compounds showed weak to moderate anti-tumor activities on other cell lines and their IC₅₀ ranged from 31.7 to more than 100 ??M. Among the synthesized compounds 12b, 13b, 12c and 13c, bearing an electronattracting substituent on the imidazole ring, and 12f and 13f, with a benzyl substituent, showed higher activities. Furthermore, the calcium channel antagonist activity of the derivatives, an undesired effect when these compounds are used as anti-tumor agents, was much lower than that of Nifedipine, a reference antagonist. Imidazolyl derivatives of 1,8-acridinedione represent an interesting template, showing promising biological properties. Further investigation on this chemical scaffold could potentially lead to the discovery of cytotoxic agents with low calcium channel blocking activity.     

Design, synthesis and antiproliferative activities of novel 5H-pyridazino[4,5-b]indoles

A novel series of 5H-pyridazino[4,5-b]indoles were designed and synthesized in order to find novel potent anticancer compounds.The structures were confirmed by ~1H NMR and MS.Their antiproliferative activities against two cancer cell lines were tested by the MTT method in vitro.Three of compounds (1e,1g,and 1h) exhibited potent antiproliferative activities,especially compound 1h (with IC_(50) values of 5.2μmol/L and 1.9μmol/L against Bel-7402 and HT-1080,respectively).The preliminary structure-activity relationships of 5H-pyridazino[4,5-b]indole derivatives were discussed.     

Synthetic studies directed towards asmarines; construction of the tetrahydrodiazepinopurine moiety by ring closing metathesis

Asmarines are tetrahydro[1,4]diazepino[1,2,3-g,h]purine derivatives isolated from marine sponges (Raspailia sp). They possess profound cytotoxic activity towards cancer cell lines, and are thus attractive synthetic targets. The tetrahydrodiazepinopurine ring skeleton has been prepared employing the RCM reaction on Boc-protected 6-allylamino-7-(propen-1-yl)purine as the key step for the construction of the seven-membered ring. 7-(Propen-1-yl)purines were formed by a novel rearrangement of 7-allylpurines under basic conditions. Boc-protected N⁶,7-diallylpurine also participated in RCM to give the eight-membered ring analog of the diazepinopurine.     

New Synthetic Approaches for Cytotoxic Activity of Novel 1,8‐Naphthyridine Derivatives

A series of substituted 1,8‐naphthyridine derivatives was synthesized as cytotoxic agent by using starting material 1,4‐dihydro‐4‐oxo‐1,8‐naphthyridine‐3‐carbohydrazide ( 1 ). Further reactions on compound 1 were processed with different reagents to afford the corresponding 3‐heteraryl‐1,8‐naphthyridine derivatives 2–22 . In vitro cytotoxic activities of new synthesized compounds were assayed against Ehrlich ascites carcinoma, which showed that compounds 3 and 12 had the more potent cytotoxic activity.     

Discovery of 29-O-acyl-toosendanin-based derivatives as potent anti-cancer agents

Structural modification of natural products is an effective strategy to discover potent lead compounds with improved medicinal performance. Toosendanin (TSN), a natural limonoid with diverse pharmacological properties, was selected as the starting material for structural modification to obtain more active anti-cancer agents in the current study. A library containing 25 structurally diverse derivatives (including 12 new ones) were constructed on the basis of the structure-guided modification of TSN. Subsequent cytotoxic assay of this library discovered that compounds 14, 18, and 25 showed more significant antiproliferative activity than the precursor TSN in MDA-MB-468 cell model and so as compounds 14, 17–19, 21, and 25 in Hela cell model. Among them, the new derivative 29-O-(6-chloronicotinoyl)-toosendanin (25) exhibited the most potent antiproliferative activity (IC₅₀s 0.05–0.06 μM), being more active than TSN (IC₅₀s 0.14–0.24 μM) and even the first-line drug adriamycin (IC₅₀s ～ 0.07 μM) in both tested cancer cell lines. The SARs study uncovered that the hemiacetal group, the 14,15-epoxy ring, 1-OH, 7-OH, 3-OAc, and 12-OAc were viewed as the essential active groups and the 29-OH was the critically active modification position of TSN for the enhancement of cytotoxicity. The discovering of 25 from TSN-based derivatives might serve as a lead compound for anti-cancer chemotherapy, which may shed light on rationally design TSN-based derivatives for obtaining more potent anti-tumor agents.     

Design,synthesis and biological evaluation of some novel <Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis>-arylpyrazole derivatives bearing the sulfonamide moiety as cytotoxic agents

A series of novel N-arylpyrazole derivatives (4a–4l) bearing the sulfonamide moiety were synthesized by the condensation reaction of 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds with 4-hydrazinylbenzenesulfonamide. The structures of the obtained compounds were established on the basis of elemental (C, H, and N) and spectral analysis (¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, ESIMS, and FT-IR). These compounds were tested for their in vitro cytotoxic activity against three human tumor cell lines: MCF-7, Hela, and A549. The results showed that most of the obtained compounds exhibited promising cytotoxicity against the tested cell lines with low IC₅₀ values. The pyrazole derivative 4k, bearing two methoxy groups on the 3-position and 4-position of the phenyl ring, was the most effective one. Its inhibition of cell growth of MCF-7 cells was better than that of celecoxib and cisplatin.     

Synthesis and Anticancer Evaluation of Some Novel Thiophene,Thieno[3,2‐d]pyrimidine,Thieno[3,2‐b]pyridine,and Thieno[3,2‐e][1,4]oxazepine Derivatives Containing Benzothiazole Moiety

In an attempt to establish novel candidate with promising anticancer activity, two derivatives of (benzo[d]thiazol‐2‐yl)thiophene backbone 1 and 14 were synthesized, and they further reacted with various chemical reagents to afford the corresponding substituted thiophene derivatives 6 , 8 , 10 , 15 , 17 , and 20 , thieno[3,2‐d]pyrimidine derivatives 2 – 5 , 7 , 9 , 16 , 21 , 23 , and 24 , thieno[3,2‐b]pyridine derivatives 11 – 13 , and thieno[3,2‐e][1,4]oxazepine derivative 18 . Structures of prepared compounds were affirmed via spectral and elemental data. Among the obtained compounds, seven derivatives 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 11 , 12 , and 13 were chosen by National Cancer Institute, USA. Such compounds were screened for their antitumor activity versus 60 cancer cell lines in one‐dose (10 μmol) screening assay. The outcomes showed that all selected compounds exhibited moderate to high anticancer activity towards many cancer cell lines among which compounds 5 and 11 exerted potent antitumor activity against numerous malignant growth cell lines particularly Ovarian Cancer IGROV1.     

Design,synthesis, and anticancer evaluation of acetamide and hydrazine analogues of pyrimidine

A library of acetamide and hydrazine analogues were generated on the pyrimidine ring through a multistep reaction starting from 5-nitro-pyrimidine-4,6-diol and pyrimidine-4,6-diol, respectively. The synthesized analogues were screened for in vitro cytotoxic activity against various human cancer cell lines like HCT-1 and HT-15 (colon), MCF-7(breast), PC-3 (prostrate), SF268 (CNS) using MTT method. From the bioassay results, it was observed that even though many of the synthesized derivatives exhibited a good potency against various screened cancer cell lines, compound 14a from the acetamide series was found to show potent anticancer activity on all the tested cancer cell lines with IC₅₀ value of 0.36μM on CNS cell line and 1.6μM on HT-21 cell line, and compound 19xxi from hydrazine series of pyrimidine showed potent activity against three tested cancer cell lines with IC₅₀ value of 0.76μM on HT-29 cell line, 2.6μM on HCT-15, and 3.2μM on MCF-7 cell line.     

Synthesis and biological evaluation of new pyrrolopyrazinone compounds as potential antitumor agents

A series of pyrrolo[1,2-a]pyrazinone compounds(5a-9f) were synthesized,and their cytotoxic activity against SKOV-3,A549.HeLa cells in vitro were evaluated by the MTT method.Some of the compounds showed potential antitumor activity against three tumor cell lines.Among them,compounds 9c and 9d showed the most potent cytotoxic activity.The preliminary mechanism of action was discussed.