Structural simplification of bioactive natural products with multicomponent synthesis. 4. 4H-pyrano-[2,3-b]naphthoquinones with anticancer activity.

4H-Pyrano-[2,3-b]naphthoquinone is a structural motif commonly found in natural products manifesting anticancer activities. As part of a program aimed at structural simplification of bioactive natural products utilizing multicomponent synthetic processes, we developed a compound library based on this heterocyclic scaffold. We found that several library members displayed low micromolar antiproliferative activity and induced apoptosis in human cancer cells. Selected compounds showed promising activity against cancer cell lines resistant to proapoptotic stimuli, demonstrating their potential in treating cancers with dismal prognoses.

Synthesis of structurally simplified analogues of pancratistatin: truncation of the cyclitol ring.

Pancratistatin is a phenanthridone-type natural product isolated from several plants of the Amaryllidaceae family. Its potent antiproliferative, antivascular, antiviral, and antiparasitic properties have attracted the attention of synthetic, biological, and medicinal chemists. Pancratistatin's low natural availability and complex structure have steered many of these research projects toward the preparation of its simplified synthetic analogues with useful levels of activity. In this work we have developed synthetic chemistry aimed at the preparation of pancratistatin analogues with a truncated cyclitol portion of the molecule. The described synthetic pathways are based on a highly anti-diastereoselective arylcuprate conjugate addition to gamma-alkoxy-alpha,beta-enoates and syn-selective azidation at the alpha-position of ester enolates. Analogues with the formally cleaved C3-C4 bond, and thus containing an open ring C, as well as a compound containing a truncated lactol moiety in lieu of the cyclitol, were prepared. Several of the analogues exhibited weak antiproliferative activity, with the highest potency observed in the case of the lactol analogue. From these results implications for the design of future pancratistatin analogues are discussed. Furthermore, the synthetic pathways can be used to construct pancratistatin-mimetic libraries, in which the cyclitol moiety is replaced by other cyclic motifs.

Biological evaluation of structurally diverse amaryllidaceae alkaloids and their synthetic derivatives: discovery of novel leads for anticancer drug design.

Twenty-nine Amaryllidaceae alkaloids and their derivatives belonging to the five most common groups, including lycorine, lycorenine, tazettine, crinine, and narciclasine types, were evaluated for antiproliferative, apoptosis-inducing, and anti-invasive activities in vitro. The antiproliferative properties of each test compound are in agreement with those reported in the literature, while the high potency of amarbellisine is reported for the first time. It was also found that with the exception of ungeremine, amarbellisine, and hippeastrine, the antiproliferative effect of the potent compounds is apoptosis mediated. Thus, apoptosis in Jurkat cells was triggered by narciclasine, narciclasine tetraacetate, C10b-R-hydroxypancratistatin, cis-dihydronarciclasine, trans-dihydronarciclasine, lycorine, 1-O-acetyllycorine, lycorine-2-one, pseudolycorine, and haemanthamine. With the exception of narciclasine, lycorine, and haemanthamine, the apoptosis-inducing properties of these compounds are reported for the first time. The collagen type I invasion assay revealed potent anti-invasive properties associated with N-methyllycorine iodide, hippeastrine, clivimine, buphanamine, and narciclasine tetraacetate, all of which were tested at non-toxic concentrations. The anti-invasive activity of buphanamine is particularly promising because this alkaloid is not toxic to cells even at much higher doses. This work has resulted in the identification of several novel leads for anticancer drug design.

One-step, three-component synthesis of pyridines and 1,4-dihydropyridines with manifold medicinal utility.

Privileged medicinal scaffolds based on the structures of 2-amino-3,5-dicyano-6-sulfanylpyridines and the corresponding 1,4-dihydropyridines have been prepared via a single-step, three-component reaction of structurally diverse aldehydes with various thiols and malononitrile. Mechanistic studies revealed that 1,4-dyhidropyridines undergo oxidation by the intermediate Knoevenagel adducts rather than by air oxygen. Although the latter process undermines the yields of pyridines, it results in the formation of substituted enaminonitriles, promising antiinflammatory agents.

Convenient one-step synthesis of a medicinally relevant benzopyranopyridine system.

Benzopyrano[2,3-b]pyridine is an important privileged medicinal scaffold. A three-component reaction of salicylaldehydes, thiols and 2 equiv of malononitrile that leads to the formation of a series of compounds incorporating 2,4-diamino-3-cyano-5-sulfanylbenzopyrano[2,3-b]pyridine framework is described. A proposed mechanism with the supporting experimental data is presented.

One-step synthesis of heterocyclic privileged medicinal scaffolds by a multicomponent reaction of malononitrile with aldehydes and thiols.

Heterocyclic privileged medicinal scaffolds involving pyridine, 1,4-dihydropyridine, chromeno[2,3-b]pyridine, and dihydro-1,4-dithiepine frameworks are prepared via a single-step multicomponent reaction of structurally diverse aldehydes with various thiols and malononitrile. Mechanistic studies of the synthetic pathway leading to pyridines reveal that 1,4-dihydropyridines undergo oxidation by the intermediate Knoevenagel adducts rather than by air oxygen. The use of o,o'-disubstituted aromatic aldehydes leads to the corresponding 1,4-dihydropyridines, whereas salicylic aldehydes result in chromeno[2,3-b]pyridines. Reactions of ethanedithiol as a thiol component produce dimeric pyridines with sterically unencumbered aldehydes, while o,o'-disubstituted aromatic aldehydes give dihydro-1,4-dithiepines. Thus, depending on the aldehyde and thiol types, diverse libraries of medicinally relevant compounds can be prepared by a simple one-step process involving no chromatography.

Selectivity guidelines and a reductive elimination-based model for predicting the stereochemical course of conjugate addition reactions of organocuprates to gamma-alkoxy-alpha,beta-enoates.

Current models used to predict the stereochemical outcome of organocopper conjugate addition processes focus on the nucleophilic addition step as stereochemistry-determining. Recent kinetic, NMR, kinetic isotope effect, and theoretical density functional studies strongly support the proposal that stereochemical preferences in these processes are dictated by the reductive elimination step, transforming Cu(III) to Cu(I) intermediates. A new model that considers various steric and stereoelectronic factors involved in the transition state of the reductive elimination step is proposed and then used to interpret the results of systematic studies of arylcuprate conjugate addition reactions with cis and trans gamma-alkoxy-alpha,beta-enoates. The results give rise to the following selectivity guidelines for this process. To achieve high anti-addition diastereoselectivities the use of trans esters with a bulky nonalkoxy substituent at the gamma-position is recommended. While stereoelectronics disfavor syn-addition, a judicious choice of properly sized gamma-substituents may lead to the predominant formation of syn-products, especially with cis enoates. However, high syn-selectivities may be achieved by using gamma-amino-alpha,beta-enoates.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of aromatic analogues of conduritol F, L-chiro-inositol, and dihydroconduritol F structurally related to the amaryllidaceae anticancer constituents.

Pancratistatin is a potent anticancer natural product, whose clinical evaluation is hampered by the limited natural abundance and the stereochemically complex structure undermining practical chemical preparation. Fifteen aromatic analogues of conduritol F, l-chiro-inositol, and dihydroconduritol F that possess four of the six pancratistatin stereocenters have been synthesized and evaluated for anticancer activity. These compounds serve as truncated pancratistatin analogues lacking the lactam ring B, but retaining the crucial C10a-C10b bond with the correct stereochemistry. The lack of activity of these compounds provides further insight into pancratistatin's minimum structural requirements for cytotoxicity, particularly the criticality of the intact phenanthridone skeleton. Significantly, these series provide rare examples of simple aromatic conduritol and inositol analogues and, therefore, this study expands the chemistry and biology of these important classes of compounds.

Enantiodivergent formal synthesis of (+)- and (-)-cyclophellitol from D-xylose based on the latent symmetry concept.

Formal synthesis of (+)- and (-)-cyclophellitol from d-xylose has been accomplished through utilization of the latent plane of chirality present in the starting carbohydrate. The synthetic pathway is suitable for preparation and biological evaluation of cyclophellitol analogues in both enantiomeric series.