Synthesis and biological evaluation of longanlactone analogues as neurotrophic agents.

Longanlactone analogues were synthesized using a route featuring Friedel-Crafts acylation, Sonogashira coupling and 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions. Structure-activity relationships were investigated for neurotrophic activity. Compound 6 was found to have the most potent neurotrophic activity among all the synthesized analogues in Neuro2a cells as evidenced by a battery of in vitro/cell based assays for assessment of neurogenic and potential neurotrophic activity including neurite outgrowth assay and real time PCR for popular markers of augmented neurotrophic activity. Compound 6 might serve as a template for further development of highly effective neurotrophic molecules.