Synthesis of 14-deoxy-benzylidene-8,17-epoxy-diene-andrographolide derivatives and evaluation of their anticancer activities

Synthesis of 14-deoxy-benzylidene-8,17-epoxy-diene-andrographolide derivatives from andrographolide and evaluation of their anticancer activities were described herein. 3,19 hydroxy groups of andrographolide were protected by benzylidene which undergo m-chloroperbenzoic acid mediated epoxydation in moderate yield to form corresponding epoxy derivatives. Thereafter mild basic condition was applied to perform de-hydroxylation at C-14 which resulted in conjugated diene derivatives of benzylidene epoxy andrographolide. These compounds were examined against different human cancer cell lines and were found to inhibit their proliferation at IC₅₀ in the range of 3–20 μM in order to elucidated the role of allylic hydroxyl group at C-14.