Aerobic Iron‐Based Cross‐Dehydrogenative Coupling Enables Efficient Diversity‐Oriented Synthesis of Coumestrol‐Based Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators

An iron‐based cross‐dehydrogenative coupling (CDC) approach was applied for the diversity‐oriented synthesis of coumestrol‐based selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs), representing the first application of CDC chemistry in natural product synthesis. The first stage of the two‐step synthesis of coumestrol involved a modified aerobic oxidative cross‐coupling between ethyl 2‐(2,4‐dimethoxybenzoyl)acetate and 3‐methoxyphenol, with FeCl₃ (10 mol %) as the catalyst. The benzofuran coupling product was then subjected to sequential deprotection and lactonization steps, affording the natural product in 59 % overall yield. Based on this new methodology other coumestrol analogues were prepared, and their effects on the proliferation of the estrogen receptor (ER)‐dependent MCF‐7 and of the ER‐independent MDA‐MB‐231 breast cancer cells were tested. As a result, new types of estrogen receptor ligands having an acetamide group instead of the 9‐hydroxyl group of coumestrol were discovered. Both 9‐acetamido‐coumestrol and 8‐acetamidocoumestrol were found more active than the natural product against estrogen‐dependent MCF‐7 breast cancer cells, with IC₅₀ values of 30 and 9 nM , respectively.