Synthesis and antitumor properties of novel curcumin analogs

Design, Synthesis and Bioactivities of Novel 1,4-Pentadien-3-one Derivatives Containing a Substituted Pyrazolyl Moiety

In this study, in order to find novel biologically active penta-1,4-dien-3-one derivatives, a series of penta-1,4-dien-3-one compounds containing a substituted pyrazole subunit were designed and synthesized. Their structures were characterized by ¹H-NMR, ¹³C-NMR and elemental analysis. The preliminary bioassays displayed that most of the title compounds showed significant antiproliferative activity against HepG2 cell lines. Especially, compounds 7a–m, o, r, s, u, w, y and z were active against HepG2 cells with IC₅₀ values of 0.10–5.05 μM, which were superior to that of the contrast sorafenib (IC₅₀ = 16.20 μM).

Synthesis and in vitro antitumor activity of (1E,4E)-1-aryl-5-(2-((quinazolin-4-yl)oxy)phenyl)-1,4-pentadien-3-one derivatives

BACKGROUND

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death and only second to heart diseases. Recently, preclinical studies have demonstrated that curcumin had a number of anticancer properties. Thus, we planned to synthesize a series of curcumin analogs to assess their antiproliferation efficacy.

RESULTS

A series of (1E,4E)-1-aryl-5-(2-((quinazolin-4-yl)oxy)phenyl)-1,4-pentadien-3-one derivatives (curcumin analogs) were synthesized and characterized by IR, NMR, and elemental analysis techniques. All of the prepared compounds were screened for antitumor activities against MGC-803, PC3, and Bcap-37 cancer cell lines. A significant inhibition for cancer cells were observed with compound 5f and also less toxic on NIH3T3 normal cells. The mechanism of cell death induced by compound 5f was further investigated by acridine orange/ethidium bromide staining, Hoechst 33,258 staining, TUNEL assay, and flow cytometry cytometry, which revealed that the compound can induce cell apoptosis in MGC-803 cells.

CONCLUSIONS

This study suggests that most of the derivatives could inhibit the growth of human cancer cell lines. In addition, compound 5f could induce apoptosis of cancer cells, and it should be subjected to further investigation as a potential anticancer drug candidate.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of novel 6-chloro-quinazolin derivatives as potential antitumor agents

Series of novel derivatives of 6-chloro-quinazolin, which this moiety was linked to a 1,5-diaryl-1,4-pentadien-3-one system, have been synthesized and tested for their antitumor activities in vitro against a panel of three human cancer cell lines (MGC-803, Bcap-37, and PC3 cells). Bioassay results indicated that most of the prepared compounds demonstrated good activities against various cancer cells. 6-chloro-quinazolin derivatives 5a and 5f were the most active members in this study, and experimental results of fluorescent staining and flow cytometry analysis revealed that they could induce apoptosis in MGC-803 and Bcap-37 cells, with apoptosis ratios of 31.7% and 21.9% at 24 h of treatment at 10 μM in MGC-803 cells. Those two quinazoline derivatives could be considered as useful templates for future development to obtain more potent antitumor agents.