One-pot synthesis and biological evaluation of N -(aminosulfonyl)-4-podophyllotoxin carbamates as potential anticancer agents

Chemistry and Biology of Podophyllotoxins: An Update

Podophyllotoxin is an aryltetralin lignan lactone derived from different plants of Podophyllum. It consists of five rings with four chiral centers, one trans-lactone and one aryl tetrahydronaphthalene skeleton with multiple modification sites. Moreover, podophyllotoxin and its derivatives showed lots of bioactivities, including anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and insecticidal properties. The demand for podophyllotoxin and its derivatives is rising as a result of their high efficacy. As a continuation of our previous review (Chem. Eur. J., 2017, 23, 4467-4526), herein, total synthesis, biotransformation, structural modifications, bioactivities, and structure-activity relationships of podophyllotoxin and its derivatives from 2017 to 2022 are summarized. Meanwhile, a piece of update information on the origin of new podophyllotoxin analogues from plants from 2014 to 2022 was compiled. We hope that this review will provide a reference for future high value-added applications of podophyllotoxin and its analogues in the pharmaceutical and agricultural fields.

Podophyllotoxin: Recent Advances in the Development of Hybridization Strategies to Enhance Its Antitumoral Profile

Podophyllotoxin is a naturally occurring cyclolignan isolated from rhizomes of Podophyllum sp. In the clinic, it is used mainly as an antiviral; however, its antitumor activity is even more interesting. While podophyllotoxin possesses severe side effects that limit its development as an anticancer agent, nevertheless, it has become a good lead compound for the synthesis of derivatives with fewer side effects and better selectivity. Several examples, such as etoposide, highlight the potential of this natural product for chemomodulation in the search for new antitumor agents. This review focuses on the recent chemical modifications (2017-mid-2023) of the podophyllotoxin skeleton performed mainly at the C-ring (but also at the lactone D-ring and at the trimethoxyphenyl E-ring) together with their biological properties. Special emphasis is placed on hybrids or conjugates with other natural products (either primary or secondary metabolites) and other molecules (heterocycles, benzoheterocycles, synthetic drugs, and other moieties) that contribute to improved podophyllotoxin bioactivity. In fact, hybridization has been a good strategy to design podophyllotoxin derivatives with enhanced bioactivity. The way in which the two components are joined (directly or through spacers) was also considered for the organization of this review. This comprehensive perspective is presented with the aim of guiding the medicinal chemistry community in the design of new podophyllotoxin-based drugs with improved anticancer properties.

Natural product inspired leads in the discovery of anticancer agents: an update

Natural products have emerged as major leads for the discovery and development of new anti-cancer drugs. The plant-derived anti-cancer drugs account for approximately 60% and the quest for new anti-cancer agents is in progress. Anti-cancer leads have been isolated from plants, animals, marine organisms, and microorganisms from time immemorial. The process of semisynthetic modifications of the parent lead has led to the generation of new anti-cancer agents with improved therapeutic efficacy and minimal side effects. The various chemo-informatics tools, bioinformatics, high-throughput screening, and combinatorial synthesis are able to deliver the new natural product lead molecules. Plant-derived anticancer agents in either late preclinical development or early clinical trials include taxol, vincristine, vinblastine, topotecan, irinotecan, etoposide, paclitaxel, and docetaxel. Similarly, anti-cancer agents from microbial sources include dactinomycin, bleomycin, mitomycin C, and doxorubicin. In this review, we highlighted the importance of natural products leads in the discovery and development of novel anti-cancer agents. The semisynthetic modifications of the parent lead to the new anti-cancer agent are also presented. Further, the leads in the preclinical settings with the potential to become effective anticancer agents are also reviewed.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

A recent antitumor story of podophyllotoxin derivatives targeting tubulin: an update (2017-2022)

So far, numerous tubulin-targeted podophyllotoxin congeners were designed and synthesized to overcome the poor water-solubility and improve the pharmaceutical characteristics. However, few studies are dedicated to exploring the interaction of tubulin with the downstream signal transduction pathways, which is important for gaining insight into the role of tubulin in the anticancer action of podophyllotoxin-based conjugates. In this review, we described a detailed account of all the advances on tubulin targeting-podophyllotoxin derivatives from 2017 and 2022 with in depth knowledge about their antitumor action and potential molecular signaling pathways directly involved in tubulin depolymerization, aiming to help researchers design and develop better anticancer drugs derived from podophyllotoxin. Moreover, we also discussed the associated challenges and future opportunities in this field. Short teaser Recent reviews summarized podophyllotoxin-based analogues, with interaction between tubulin and signal pathways being rarely involved. This review comprehensively sum up how podophyllotoxin derivatives targeting tubulin exert their antitumor action via potential molecular signaling pathways.

Design and Synthesis of 4-O-Podophyllotoxin Sulfamate Derivatives as Potential Cytotoxic Agents

4-O-Podophyllotoxin sulfamate derivatives were prepared using the natural lignan podophyllotoxin. The prepared compounds were afforded by reacting O-sulfonyl chloride podophyllotoxin with ammonia or aminoaryl/heteroaryl motif. Biological evaluation was performed in human breast cancer (MCF7), ovarian cancer (A2780), colon adenocarcinoma (HT29), and normal lung fibroblast (MRC5) cell lines. Compound 3 exhibited potent inhibitory activity and good selectivity margin. Compounds 2, 3, and 7 exerted apoptotic effect in MCF7 cells in a dose-dependent manner. The cytotoxicity of the verified compounds was inferior to that of podophyllotoxin.

Copper(i)-catalyzed regioselective Ullmann-type coupling of primary carbamates and 5-substituted-1,2,3-triiodobenzenes: facile synthesis of 2,3-diiodinated N-aryl carbamates

Mild, efficient, and unprecedented synthesis of 2,3-diiodinated N-aryl carbamates via highly regioselective Ullmann-type cross-coupling of 5-substituted-1,2,3-triiodobenzene and carbamate.

Challenges and potential for improving the druggability of podophyllotoxin-derived drugs in cancer chemotherapy

Covering: up to 2020As a main bioactive component of the Chinese, Indian, and American Podophyllum species, the herbal medicine, podophyllotoxin (PTOX) exhibits broad spectrum pharmacological activity, such as superior antitumor activity and against multiple viruses. PTOX derivatives (PTOXs) could arrest the cell cycle, block the transitorily generated DNA/RNA breaks, and blunt the growth-stimulation by targeting topoisomerase II, tubulin, or insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor. Since 1983, etoposide (VP-16) is being used in frontline cancer therapy against various cancer types, such as small cell lung cancer and testicular cancer. Surprisingly, VP-16 (ClinicalTrials NTC04356690) was also redeveloped to treat the cytokine storm in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in phase II in April 2020. The treatment aims at dampening the cytokine storm and is based on etoposide in the case of central nervous system. However, the initial version of PTOX was far from perfect. Almost all podophyllotoxin derivatives, including the FDA-approved drugs VP-16 and teniposide, were seriously limited in clinical therapy due to systemic toxicity, drug resistance, and low bioavailability. To meet this challenge, scientists have devoted continuous efforts to discover new candidate drugs and have developed drug strategies. This review focuses on the current clinical treatment of PTOXs and the prospective analysis for improving druggability in the rational design of new generation PTOX-derived drugs.

An Fe3O4@SiO2/Schiff base/Cu(ii) complex as an efficient recyclable magnetic nanocatalyst for selective mono N-arylation of primary O-alkyl thiocarbamates and primary O-alkyl carbamates with aryl halides and arylboronic acids

A convenient and efficient selective mono N-arylation of primary O-alkyl thiocarbamates and carbamates is reported by a recyclable magnetic Cu(ii) nanocatalyst.

Podophyllotoxin derivatives as an excellent anticancer aspirant for future chemotherapy: A key current imminent needs

Cancer is one of the leading groups of threatened caused by abnormal state cell growth and second leading diseases involved in the major global death. To treat this, research looking for promising anticancer drugs from natural resource, or synthesized novel molecules by diverse group of scientists worldwide. Currently, drugs get into clinical practices and showing side effects with target actions which in turn leading to multidrug resistance unknowingly. Podophyllotoxin, a naturally occurring lignan and with hybrids have become one of the most attractive subjects due to their broad spectrum of pharmacological activities. Podophyllotoxin derivatives have been the centre of attention of extensive chemical amendment and pharmacological investigation in modern decades. Mainly, the innovation of the semi-synthetic anticancer drugs etoposide and teniposide has stimulated prolonged research interest in this structural phenotype. The present review focuses mainly onnew anticancer drugs from podophyllotoxin analogs, mechanism of action and their structure-activity relationships (SAR) as potential anticancer candidates for future discovery of suitable drug candidates.