Is it still worth renewing nucleoside anticancer drugs nowadays?

Nucleoside has situated the convergence point in the discovery of novel drugs for decades, and a large number of nucleoside derivatives have been constructed for screening novel pharmacological properties at various experimental platforms. Notably, nearly 20 nucleosides are approved to be used in the clinic treatment of various cancers. Nevertheless, the blossom of synthetic nucleoside analogs in comparison with the scarcity of nucleoside anticancer drugs leads to a question: Is it still worth insisting on the screening of novel anticancer drugs from nucleoside derivatives? Hence, this review attempts to emphasize the importance of nucleoside analogs in the discovery of novel anticancer drugs. Firstly, we introduce the metabolic procedures of nucleoside anticancer drug (such as 5-fluorouracil) and summarize the designing of novel nucleoside anticancer candidates based on clinically used nucleoside anticancer drugs (such as gemcitabine). Furthermore, we collect anticancer properties of some recently synthesized nucleoside analogs, aiming at emphasizing the availability of nucleoside analogs in the discovery of anticancer drugs. Finally, a variety of synthetic strategies including the linkage of sugar moiety with nucleobase scaffold, modifications on the sugar moiety, and variations on the nucleobase structure are collected to exhibit the abundant protocols in the achievement of nucleoside analogs. Taken the above discussions collectively, nucleoside still advantages for the finding of novel anticancer drugs because of the clearly metabolic procedures, successfully clinic applications, and abundantly synthetic routines.

Potentiality of Nucleoside as Antioxidant by Analysis on Oxidative Susceptibility, Drug Discovery, and Synthesis.

Nucleosides are sensitive sites towards oxidations caused by endogenous and exogenous oxidative resources, and a large number of the produced DNA lesions behave as pathogenesis event1ually. We herein analyze oxidative modes of nucleosides and structure-activity relationships of some clinical nucleoside drugs. Together with our previous findings on the inhibitory effects of nucleoside derivatives against DNA oxidation, all these results imply a possibility for nucleoside to be a new member in the family of antioxidants. Then, some novel synthetic routines of nucleoside analogs are collected to reveal the applicability in the construction of nucleoside antioxidants. Therefore, it is reasonable to envision that the nucleoside antioxidant will be a novel topic in the research of both nucleosides and antioxidants.

What about the progress in the synthesis of flavonoid from 2020?

Flavonoids are a well-known family of natural polyphenols because of their prevalent properties in the physiological and medicinal field. In addition to a plethora of natural flavonoids, the construction of flavonoid skeletons still situates at the convergence point in the medicinal chemistry. Not surprisingly, amplification in the organic synthetic protocols showcases an expected avenue for accessing to abundant flavonoid scaffolds with special pharmacological activities. Hence, it is necessary to address the recent progresses in the synthesis of flavonoids by using organic strategies, and some typical protocols on the construction of flavonoids are thereby collected from recent publications (from 2020). The synthetic strategies presented herein are mainly cataloged as the cyclization of 4-chromanone, the glycosylation on the flavonoid scaffold, and the application of flavonoids in the pharmacological researches, aiming at providing with a current picture for depicting the recent progress on the synthesis of flavonoids. Therefore, it is expected to be a reference for the further exploration on the designing of synthetic routines for flavonoids.

Why natural antioxidants are readily recognized by biological systems? 3D architecture plays a role!

A great deal of investigations has convincingly outlined the correlation of pathogenesis of various fatal diseases with the damages caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS) in vivo. Not surprisingly, natural antioxidants play pivotal roles in the decreasing of these diseases by their hydrophilicity, permeability, multi-factored interactions with biological surroundings, while the antioxidative effects are dependent upon the bond energies, donors or acceptors of hydrogen bonds as well as other physical properties of the functional groups. However, in comparison with natural antioxidants the synthetic antioxidants sometimes exhibit potentially deleterious effects, viz., pro-oxidative properties, and it is thereby worth exploring the structures of natural antioxidants with the aim of achieving valuable information for the antioxidative structures. Here, more than 70 natural antioxidants are collected from recent publications, and their configurations are optimized at MM2 level for summarizing the common characteristics from their structures. It is found that all the natural phenols, flavonoids, anthraquinones, alkaloids, terpenoids, and steroids exert three-dimensional (3D) architectures rather than a merely planar conjugation system. Hence, this 3D conformation might be beneficial for the natural antioxidants being recognized by biological surroundings. This deduction has been demonstrated by some synthetic antioxidants, in which their structures have been conformed to be 3D architecture. The 3D architecture will become a direction for the designing of antioxidative structures, and the testing of antioxidative effect is encouraged to employ signaling pathways, protein targets, and cell lines rather than individual radical-scavenging evaluation.

Attaching a Dipeptide to Fullerene as an Antioxidant Hybrid against DNA Oxidation.

Emerging evidence has revealed that oxidative damages of DNA correlate with the pathogenesis of some diseases, and numerous investigations have also suggested that supplementation of antioxidants is beneficial for keeping health by rectifying in vivo redox status. Here, we construct antioxidative dipeptides with the Ugi four-component reaction (comprising p-aminobenzyl alcohol, benzaldehyde, or vanillin, a series of antioxidative carboxylic acids and isocyanides as reagents) and then attempt to attach the dipeptides to [60]fullerene by the Bingel reaction. However, this endeavor does not lead to the amelioration of the radical-scavenging property because abilities of fullerenyl dipeptides to trap 2,2'-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl and galvinoxyl radicals are still dependent upon the phenolic hydroxyl group in the dipeptide scaffold rather than upon the fullerenyl group. Alternatively, when the obtained fullerenyl dipeptides are evaluated in a peroxyl radical-induced oxidation of DNA, it is found that introducing a fullerene moiety into dipeptide enables antioxidative effect to be enhanced 20-30% because the fullerene moiety facilitates the corresponding dipeptide to intercalate with DNA strands, and thus, to increase the antioxidative efficacy. Our results suggest that connecting an antioxidative skeleton with the hydrophobic fullerene moiety might lead to a series of novel antioxidant hybrids applied for the inhibition of DNA oxidation.

Multicomponent Reactions for Integrating Multiple Functional Groups into an Antioxidant.

A large number of convincing evidences has revealed the correlation of the pathogeny of diseases with the oxidative damages of DNA, protein, biomembrane, and other biological species, while supplementation of antioxidants is demonstrated to be a promising way to avoid, at least, rectify the unbalance redox status in vivo. Although many endeavors have focused on synthesis of antioxidants, a main hurdle still hinders the wide usages of synthetic antioxidants because of low bioavailability and potential cytotoxicity. The search for antioxidants with multiple functional groups being recognized by different receptors becomes a much sought by researchers, and multicomponent reactions (MCRs) provide with powerful tools for the construction of multifunctional antioxidants. Presented herein is a personal account on the application of MCRs for the synthesis of multifunctional antioxidants, while radical-induced oxidation of DNA acts as the experimental system for evaluating antioxidative effect. Concretely, the Biginelli three-component reaction (3CR) affords such a dihydropyrimidine scaffold that the tautomerization between C=S and C-SH leads to antioxidative effect. The Povarov 3CR is able to integrate multiple antioxidative groups, i. e., ferrocenyl and -N(CH3 )2 , into a quinoline scaffold, while the Groebke 3CR provides with imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine skeleton for inhibiting DNA oxidation. Additionally, the Knoevenagel-related MCRs also become efficient strategies for achieving radical-scavengers. On the other hand, the Ugi 4CR and Passerini 3CR result in the dipeptide and α-acyloxycarboxamide, respectively, with the benefit for the integration of antioxidative features by aliphatic chains. Therefore, MCRs have emerged as efficient tools for integrating multiple antioxidative features into one molecule in order to meet with complicated requirements from various biological surroundings.

Bridging free radical chemistry with drug discovery: A promising way for finding novel drugs efficiently.

Many diseases have been regarded to correlate with the in vivo oxidative damages, which are caused by overproduced free radicals from metabolic process or reactive oxygen species (ROS). This background motivates chemists to explore free radical reactions and to design a number of antioxidants, but whether free radical chemistry can be applied to accelerate the efficacy of the drug discovery is still underrepresented. Herein, in light of recent findings as well as kinetics on free radical reaction, the discipline of free radical chemistry is introduced to be a novel tool for finding potential drugs from antioxidant libraries accumulated during the study on free radical chemistry. These antioxidants provide with such abundant types of structural skeleton that might be employed to inhibit oxidations in different biological microenvironments. Although the in vitro characterization on the antioxidative property exerts a potential role of an antioxidant as a prodrug, the in vivo investigation on the property for quenching free radicals will make a final decision for the antioxidant whether it is worthy to be further explored pharmacologically. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that bridging free radical chemistry with the pharmacological research will provide with a succinct way for finding novel drugs efficiently.

Construction of 3D Antioxidants with Nucleosides as the Core: Inhibition of DNA Oxidation.

We herein attach ferulic and caffeic acids to -OH and -NH2 in cytidine, uridine, adenosine, or guanosine for achieving antioxidative hybrids with three-dimensional (3D) configuration. In the case of molecular docking computation, the nucleoside antioxidants with 3D configuration facilitate to bind with the groove of DNA and to cover the surface of a DNA helix. Experimentally, the antioxidative effects of nucleoside hybrids are measured in the inhibition of DNA oxidation caused by 2,2'-azobis(2-amidinopropane dihydrochloride) (AAPH), and the stoichiometric factor (n, the number of free radical propagations terminated by one molecule of antioxidant) can be selected as a quantitative index for expressing antioxidative effects. It is found that the effect of cytidine tetraferulate against AAPH-induced DNA oxidation is seven times better than that of ferulic acid, even though four ferulic acid moieties are involved and cytidine itself does not exhibit activity. Moreover, the antioxidative effect of cytidine tetracaffeate is almost 20 times higher than that of caffeic acid. The n values of nucleoside antioxidants against AAPH-induced DNA oxidation are found to correlate proportionally with the rate constants for quenching 2,2'-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl and galvinoxyl radicals. Therefore, nucleoside linking with antioxidative carboxylic acid might be a promising way for constructing antioxidants against peroxyl radical-induced oxidation of DNA.

Anti-Oxidant in China: A Thirty-Year Journey.

Anti-oxidant refers to such a kind of endogenous or exogenous compound that is able to retard or even prohibit in vivo or in vitro oxidation with only small amount being used. The study of anti-oxidants starts nearly 30 years ago, and the research on this topic in China almost begins simultaneously with that in the world. Gratifyingly, contributions on anti-oxidants from China researchers have rapidly increased in the recent decade as anti-oxidants have become a hot topic in biochemistry, pharmacology, food science, chemistry as well as other related disciplines. Anti-oxidants provide a specific viewpoint for clarifying pharmacological effects of Chinese medicinal herbs. For example, as a traditional Chinese medicinal herb, Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer is found to be a natural anti-oxidant resource. Meanwhile, some signaling pathways such as nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), nuclear factor erythroid 2 related factor 2 (Nrf2), and Kelch-like ECH associated protein 1 (Keap1) are regarded to play an important role in anti-oxidant responses. These findings provide a substantial basis for understanding the pharmacological behaviors of Chinese medicinal herbs in view of regulating the aforementioned signaling pathways. Moreover, inhibition of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by supplementation of anti-oxidant becomes a popularly accepted idea in keeping health and treating diseases. Isolations of antio-xidative ingredients from medicinal herbs and foods lead to set up a large range of anti-oxidative compound libraries, and intake of anti-oxidants from foods may be the most efficient way for supplementing exogenous anti-oxidants. On the other hand, designing anti-oxidants with novel structures motivates organic and medicinal chemists to explore the structure-activity relationship, and then, to find novel structural features with anti-oxidative properties. Therefore, it is reasonable to believe that China researchers will donate more endeavors to obtain more achievements on anti-oxidants in the future.

Enhancing Antioxidant Effect against Peroxyl Radical-Induced Oxidation of DNA: Linking with Ferrocene Moiety!

As a major member in the family of reactive oxygen species, peroxyl radical is able to abstract hydrogen atom from 4-position of ribose, leading to the collapse of DNA strand. Thus, inhibiting oxidative stress with exogenous antioxidants acts as a promising strategy to protect the integrity of DNA structure and is thereby suggested to be a pathway against developments of related diseases. Ferrocene as an organometallic scaffold is widely applied in the design of organometallic drugs, and redox of Fe(II)/Fe(III) in ferrocene offers advantage for providing electron to radicals. Presented herein are our ongoing studies on ferrocene-appended antioxidants, including McMurry reaction applied to construct ferrocifen; Aldol condensation used to prepare ferrocenyl curcumin; Povarov reaction employed to prepare ferrocenyl quinoline; Biginelli reaction used to construct ferrocenyl dihydropyrimidine; Groebke reaction used to synthesize ferrocenyl imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine; and Passerini three-component reaction as well as Ugi four-component reaction applied to synthesize α-acyloxycarboxamide and bisamide, respectively. It is found that ferrocene moiety is able to enhance antioxidative effect of the aforementioned scaffolds even without the aid of phenolic hydroxyl group. The role of ferrocene in enhancing antioxidative effect can be attributable to trapping radicals, decreasing oxidative potential, and increasing the affinity toward DNA strand. Therefore, ferrocene is worthy to be taken into consideration in the design of drugs in relation to DNA oxidation.

How to Start a Total Synthesis from the Wieland-Miescher Ketone?

BACKGROUND: The Wieland-Miescher ketone consists of a couple of enantiomers of 9-methyl- Δ5(10)-octalin-1,6-dione, in which the configuration at 9-position is S- or R-type. The Robinson annulation of 2-methyl-1,3-cyclohexanedione with methyl vinyl ketone is able to afford the Wieland-Miescher ketone. As widely used in the total synthesis, the Wieland-Miescher ketone is treated at the beginning of total synthesis, and protocols for treating the Wieland-Miescher ketone are worthy to be addressed. OBJECTIVE: The presented review provides the progress of the usage of Wieland-Miescher ketone for the total synthesis, while treatments on C=C and C=O in the Wieland-Miescher ketone at the beginning of total synthesis are exemplified herein. CONCLUSION: Modifications of the Wieland-Miescher ketone are composed of oxidation, reduction, and electrophilic or nucleophilic addition. In addition, protection of non-conjugated C=O with glycol or protection of conjugated C=O with ethanedithiol, and the introduction of substituents into α-position of C=C can also be used to modify the structure of the Wieland-Miescher ketone. It is reasonably believed that many novel strategies will be found to treat the Wieland-Miescher ketone in the future total synthesis.

Hybrid of Resveratrol and Glucosamine: An Approach To Enhance Antioxidant Effect against DNA Oxidation.

Resveratrol exhibits various pharmacological activities, which are dependent upon phenolic hydroxyl groups. In this work, glucosamine, lipoic acid, or adamantanamine moiety was applied for attaching to ortho-position of hydroxyl group in resorcinol moiety of resveratrol (known as position-2). Antioxidant effects of the obtained hybrids were characterized using DNA oxidative systems mediated by •OH, Cu2+/glutathione (GSH), and 2,2'-azobis(2-amidinopropanehydrochloride) (AAPH), respectively. The glucosyl-appended imine and amine at position-2 of resveratrol were found to show higher inhibitory effects than other resveratrol derivatives against AAPH-induced DNA oxidation. The antioxidative effect was quantitatively expressed by stoichiometric factor ( n, the number of radical-propagation terminated by one molecule of antioxidant). The stoichiometric factors of glucosyl-appended imine and amine of resveratrol increased to 4.74 (for imine) and 4.97 (for amine), respectively, higher than that of resveratrol (3.70) and glucoside of resveratrol (3.49). It was thereby concluded that the combination of resveratrol with glucosamine at position-2 represented a novel pathway for modifying resveratrol structure in the protection of DNA against peroxyl radical-mediated oxidation.

Tetramer as efficient structural mode for organizing antioxidative carboxylic acids: The case in inhibiting DNA oxidation.

To overcome the problem on the relationship of antioxidative effect with the branch number in a tetramer, we herein designed a series of antioxidants with pentaerythritol, glycerol, and ethylene glycol as the cores, and gallic, ferulic, caffeic, and p-hydroxybenzoic acids as the antioxidative moieties. In the case of DNA oxidation mediated by 2,2'-azobis(2-amidinopropane hydrochloride, AAPH), it was found that the stoichiometric factor (n) of a carboxylic acid increased rapidly when the acid was esterified with ethylene glycol, glycerol, and pentaerythritol to form a dimer, trimer, and tetramer, respectively. Interestingly, the coefficient in the equation of n∼{branch} ({branch} referred to the number of branches) was higher than one, indicating that the antioxidative effect was enhanced more promptly than the increase of the number of branches. Meanwhile, tetramer exhibited high intercalation effect with DNA strand. Therefore, additionally antioxidative effect was ascribed to the tethering effect resulting from tetrameric structure and strong intercalation with DNA strand generated by tetramer.

2-Isocyano glucose used in Ugi four-component reaction: An approach to enhance inhibitory effect against DNA oxidation.

The Ugi four-component-reaction (Ugi 4CR) allowed synthesizing bisamide from carboxylic acid, aldehyde, amine, and isocyanide in one-pot operation. However, introducing 2-isocyano glucose into the Ugi 4CR and investigating the inhibitory effects of Ugi adducts against radical-induced oxidation of DNA remained technical challenges. We herein applied 2-isocyano glucose (acetylation of hydroxy groups) to perform a catalyst-free Ugi 4CR at room temperature. The gallic, ferulic, caffeic, or p-hydroxybenzoic acids, aniline (or benzylamine and p-aminophenol), and formaldehyde acted as reagents. In the case of inhibiting DNA oxidations induced by 2,2'-azobis(2-amidinopropane hydrochloride) (AAPH), hydroxy radical, and Cu2+/glutathione, the Ugi adduct containing glucose moiety exhibited higher antioxidative activities than the structural analog without glucose moiety involved. It was also proved that high antioxidative property was owing to hydroxy groups in glucose moiety. Therefore, sugar-appended Ugi adducts might hold promising inhibitors for DNA oxidation.

Tetrahydropyrrolization of Resveratrol and Other Stilbenes Improves Inhibitory Effects on DNA Oxidation.

The inhibitory effect of resveratrol on DNA oxidation caused by 2,2'-azobis(2-amidinopropane hydrochloride) (AAPH) was found to be enhanced if the C=C bond in resveratrol was converted into tetrahydropyrrole by reaction with azomethine ylide (CH2 =N(+) (CH3 )CH2 (-) ). This encouraged us to explore whether the inhibitory activities of other stilbenes could also be increased by the same method. We found that the inhibitory effects of the tetrahydropyrrole derivatives on AAPH-induced oxidation of DNA were higher than those of the corresponding stilbenes, because the tetrahydropyrrole motif can provide hydrogen atoms to be abstracted by radicals. Therefore, the tetrahydropyrrolization offered an advantage for enhancing the antioxidant effects of stilbenes. Notably, (CH3 )3 SiCH2 N(CH3 )CH2 OCH3 (in the presence of CF3 COOH) and (CH3 )3 NO (in the presence of LiN(iPr)2 ) can be used to generate azomethine ylide for the tetrahydropyrrolization of stilbenes containing electron-withdrawing and -donating groups, respectively.

Development of amino- and dimethylcarbamate-substituted resorcinol as programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) inhibitor.

Blockading the interaction of programmed death-1 (PD-1) protein with its ligands (PD-Ls, such as PD-L1) was proved to be a pathway for suppressing the development of tumors and other degradations of biological species. Thus, finding PD-1 inhibitors situated at the convergence point of drug discovery. In addition to some monoclonal antibodies applied to treat cancers clinically, the screening of organic molecules for hindering the interaction of PD-1 with PD-L1 became an efficient strategy in the development of PD-1 inhibitors. We herein applied resorcinol and 3-hydroxythiophenol as the core to link with N,N-dimethylcarbamate and other alkyl-substituted amines to afford 13 amine-appended phenyl dimethylcarbamates (AAPDs). The test for blockading the combination of PD-1 with PD-L1 revealed that abilities of 13 AAPDs were higher than that of sulfamethizole, a successful PD-1 inhibitor. In particular, large hydrophobic substituents at amine moiety or a nitro at resorcinol skeleton enhanced the inhibitory effect of AAPD even higher than that of sulfamethoxypyridazine, another successful PD-1 inhibitor. The present results may provide valuable information for further investigation on synthetic PD-1 inhibitors.

Coumarin-fused coumarin: antioxidant story from N,N-dimethylamino and hydroxyl groups.

Two coumarin skeletons can form chromeno[3,4-c]chromene-6,7-dione by sharing with the C ═ C in lactone. The aim of the present work was to explore the antioxidant effectiveness of the coumarin-fused coumarin via six synthetic compounds containing hydroxyl and N,N-dimethylamino as the functional groups. The abilities to quench 2,2'-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate) cationic radical (ABTS(+•)), 2,2'-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH), and galvinoxyl radical revealed that the rate constant for scavenging radicals was related to the amount of hydroxyl group in the scaffold of coumarin-fused coumarin. But coumarin-fused coumarin was able to inhibit DNA oxidations caused by (•)OH, Cu(2+)/glutathione (GSH), and 2,2'-azobis(2-amidinopropane hydrochloride) (AAPH) even in the absence of hydroxyl group. In particular, a hydroxyl and an N,N-dimethylamino group locating at different benzene rings increased the inhibitory effect of coumarin-fused coumarin on AAPH-induced oxidation of DNA about 3 times higher than a single hydroxyl group, whereas N,N-dimethylamino-substituted coumarin-fused coumarin possessed high activity toward (•)OH-induced oxidation of DNA without the hydroxyl group contained. Therefore, the hydroxyl group together with N,N-dimethylamino group may be a novel combination for the design of coumarin-fused heterocyclic antioxidants.

Coumarin sharing the benzene ring with quinoline for quenching radicals and inhibiting DNA oxidation.

Fifteen 8-substituted-phenyl-6-ferrocenyl-4-methyl-2H-pyrano[3,2-g]quinolin-2-ones were synthesized via Povarov three-component reaction, in which the substituted aromatic aldehydes reacted with ferrocenylacetylene and 7-amino-4-methylcoumarin in the presence of Ce(OTf)3 as the catalyst. The obtained coumarin-fused quinolines were applied to quench 2,2'-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate) cationic radical (ABTS(+)) and 2,2'-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) and to inhibit 2,2'-azobis(2-amidinopropane hydrochloride) (AAPH)-induced oxidation of DNA. It was found that the ferrocenyl group attaching to pyrano[3,2-g]quinolin-2-one scaffold can trap radicals and inhibit DNA oxidation even in the absence of phenolic hydroxyl group. The inhibitory effects on radicals and DNA oxidation can be further enhanced by the electron-donating groups such as p-(N,N-dimethyl amino)phenyl, ferrocenyl, and furan-2-yl group at 8-position. Therefore, ferrocenyl-substituted pyrano[3,2-g]quinolin-2-one skeleton together with electron-donating groups became a novel structural style for antioxidants.

Ferrocenyl-appended aurone and flavone: which possesses higher inhibitory effects on DNA oxidation and radicals?

The aim of the present work was to compare the antioxidative effect of the ferrocenyl-appended aurone with that of ferrocenyl-appended flavone; therefore, nine aurones together with the flavone-type analogues were synthesized by using chalcone as the reactant. The radical-scavenging property was evaluated by reacting with the 2,2'-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate) cationic radical (ABTS(+·)), 2,2'-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH), and galvinoxyl radical, respectively. The cytotoxicity was estimated by inhibiting 2,2'-azobis(2-amidinopropane hydrochloride) (AAPH)-induced oxidation of DNA. It was found that the introduction of the ferrocenyl group remarkably increased the radical-scavenging activities of aurone and flavone. Especially, the ferrocenyl group in flavones can quench radicals even in the absence of the phenolic hydroxyl group, while ferrocenyl-appended aurones can efficiently protect DNA against AAPH-induced oxidation. Therefore, the antioxidative effect was generated by the ferrocenyl group and enhanced by the electron-donating group attaching to the para-position of the ferrocenyl group. Introducing the ferrocenyl group into natural compounds may be a useful strategy for increasing the antioxidative effectiveness.

Solvent-free Povarov reaction for synthesizing ferrocenyl quinolines: antioxidant abilities deriving from ferrocene moiety.

Twenty-two 2-phenyl-4-ferrocenylquinolines are synthesized by Povarov three-component-reaction (3CR) among the substituted anilines, benzaldehydes, and ferrocenylacetylene with Ce(OTf)3 being catalyst in the absence of solvents. The antioxidative effects of the obtained quinolines are estimated by quenching 2,2'-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate) cationic radical (ABTS(+·)), 2,2'-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), and galvinoxyl radicals, and by inhibiting Cu(2+)/glutathione (GSH)-, hydroxyl radical (·OH)-, and 2,2'-azobis(2-amidinopropane hydrochloride) (AAPH)-induced oxidations of DNA. It is found that the ferrocenyl group instead of hydroxyl group generates the antioxidative effect for quinoline to quench radicals and to protect DNA against radical-induced oxidations. The antioxidative effect generated by ferrocenyl group can be further increased by the electron-donating moieties such as furan, -N(CH3)2, -OCH3, and ferrocenyl group, while the electron-withdrawing groups such as -NO2 and -Cl are not beneficial for quinolines to be antioxidants. The ferrocenyl group in quinoline exhibits higher antioxidant activity than hydroxyl group in Trolox.