Synthesis and Evaluation of the Cytotoxicities of Neoflavenes

The synthesis of neoflavene and neoflavenes with methoxy substituents at different positions are described. As starting materials, various salicylaldehydes were run through sequential reactions such as O‐allylation, Grignard reaction, oxidation, Wittig reaction, and ring‐closing metathesis to yield the target neoflavenes in good yield. Among the prepared neoflavenes, 7‐methoxy‐4′‐methoxyneoflavene ( 6e ) and 8‐methoxy‐4′‐methoxyneoflavene ( 6f ) exhibiting potential cell toxicities against various cells were disclosed. In particular, 6f which exhibited an IC₅₀ value of 6.5 ± 2.0 and 5.1 ± 1.1 μM against gastric carcinoma and lung carcinoma cells in vitro was found, respectively. Meanwhile, the structure and activity relationship of our synthesized neoflavenes is further discussed briefly.     

Alkaloids from the endophytic fungus Penicillium brefeldianum and their cytotoxic activities

One new indoloditerpene,6,7-dehydropaxilline(1),one new indole-diketopiperazine,spirotryprostatin F(2),and one new 13-membered macrolide,N-demethylmelearoride A(3),as well as 8 known alkaloids(4-11),were isolated from the solid cultures of the endophytic fungus,Penicillium brefeidianum.The structures and absolute configurations of compounds 1-3 were elucidated by comprehensive spectroscopic analysis and the circular dichroism(CD) exciton chirality method.All the metablites were evaluated for their cytotoxic activites against three human tumor cell lines.Compound 2 exhibited cytotoxicities against HepG2 and MDA-MB-231 cells with IC_(50) values of 14.1 μmol/L and 35.5μmol/L,respectively.Compound 3 showed moderate activity against HepG2 cells with IC_(50) values of 36.6 μmol/L.