Syntheses of chlorogenin 6α-O-acyl-3-O-β-chacotriosides and their antitumor activities

Chemical synthesis of saponins: An update

Saponins, as secondary metabolites in terrestrial plants and marine invertebrate, constitute one of the largest families of natural products. The long history of folk medicinal applications of saponins makes them attractive candidates for innovative drug design and development. Chemical synthesis has become a practical alternative to the availability of the natural saponins and their modified analogs, so as to facilitate SAR studies and the discovery of optimal structures for clinical applications. The recent achievements in the synthesis of these complex saponins reflect the advancements of both steroid/triterpene chemistry and carbohydrate chemistry. This chapter provides an updated review on the chemical synthesis of natural saponins, covering the literature from 2014 to 2020.

Synthesis, cytotoxicity and anti-inflammatory activity of rhamnose-containing ursolic and betulinic acid saponins

Betulinic acid and ursolic acid are ubiquitous, naturally-occurring triterpenoids exhibiting various pharmacological activities including cytotoxic and anti-inflammatory activities. However, these triterpenoids display unfavorable pharmacokinetic properties as well as low aqueous solubility. It has been shown that the presence of α-l-rhamnose moieties positively modulates the anticancer activity of secondary metabolites. Herein we report the synthesis and in vitro evaluation of cytotoxic and anti-inflammatory activities of a series of rhamnose-containing ursolic and betulinic acid saponins. Relying on Schmidt's normal and inverse procedures, monorhamnosides, (1→4)-linked dirhamnosides as well as branched trirhamnosides and tetrarhamnosides were synthesized in high yields with full control of stereoselectivity. A betulinic acid saponin bearing a 3-O-α-l-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→4)-α-l-rhamnopyranosyl residue was found to be a potent cytotoxic agent against human colorectal adenocarcinoma cells without damaging the healthy cells (selectivity ratio > 20) whereas rhamnose-containing ursolic acid saponins potently inhibited NO overproduction induced by LPS-stimulated macrophages. Our results reveal that rhamnose-containing ursolic and betulinic acid saponins represent promising therapeutic agents.

Rhamnose-containing saponins featuring betulinic and ursolic acid as aglycones were synthesized using both Schmidt's normal and inverse procedures. Some of these synthetic saponins exhibited selective cytotoxic and/or anti-inflammatory activities.

Anti-Inflammatory Spirostanol and Furostanol Saponins from Solanum macaonense

Eight new spirostanol saponins, macaosides A-H (1-8), and 10 new furostanol saponins, macaosides I-R (9-18), together with six known spirostanol compounds (19-24) were isolated from Solanum macaonense. The structures of the new compounds were determined from their spectroscopic data, and the compounds were tested for in vitro antineutrophilic inflammatory activity. It was found that both immediate inflammation responses including superoxide anion generation and elastase release were significantly inhibited by treatment with compounds 20, 21, and 24 (superoxide anion generation: IC50 7.0, 7.6, 4.0 μM; elastase release: IC50 3.7, 4.4, 1.0 μM, respectively). However, compounds 1 and 4 exhibited effects on the inhibition of elastase release only, with IC50 values of 3.2 and 4.2 μM, respectively, while 19 was active against superoxide anion generation only, with an IC50 value of 6.1 μM. Accordingly, spirostanols may be promising lead compounds for further neutrophilic inflammatory disease studies.

Synthesis of a chlorogenin glycoside library using an orthogonal protecting group strategy

Naturally occurring spirostanol saponins bear a chacotriose, α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→2)-[α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→4)]-β-D-glucopyranose residue as the oligosaccharide moiety which is believed to be important for biological activity. Herein the development of a concise, combinatorial method for the synthesis of two series of glycan variants at the 2' and/or 4' positions of chacotriose is described and the structure-activity relationships of the glycone part at 3-OH of chlorogenin investigated. These compounds were found to be weakly-cytotoxic toward leukemia cell lines CCRF and HL-20, indicating that the chacotriose moiety is important for anticancer activity.

Structural analogues of diosgenyl saponins: synthesis and anticancer activity

Saponins display various biological activities including anti-tumor activity. Recently intensive research has been focused on developing saponins for tumor therapies. The diosgenyl saponin dioscin is one of the most common steroidal saponins and exhibits potent anticancer activity in several human cancer cells through apoptosis-inducing pathways. In this paper, we describe the synthesis of several diosgenyl saponin analogues containing either a 2-amino-2-deoxy-beta-d-glucopyranosyl residue or an alpha-l-rhamnopyranosyl-(1-->4)-2-amino-2-deoxy-beta-d-glucopyranosyl residue with different acyl substituents on the amino group. The cytotoxic activity of these compounds was evaluated in MCF-7 breast cancer cells and HeLa cervical cancer cells. Structure-activity relationship studies show that the disaccharide saponin analogues are in general less active than their corresponding monosaccharide analogues. The incorporation of an aromatic nitro functionality into these saponin analogues does not exhibit significant effect on their cytotoxic activity.

Concise synthesis of two natural triterpenoid saponins, oleanolic acid derivatives isolated from the roots of Pulsatilla chinensis

The first synthesis of two natural triterpenoid saponins, which were isolated from the roots of Pulsatilla chinensis and exhibited excellent in vitro cytotoxic activity against HL-60 cells, was concisely achieved in a convergent approach. We employed an odourless 2-methyl-5-tert-butylphenyl (Mbp) thioglycoside and trichloroacetimidate donors in one-pot reaction as a key step.

Facile synthesis of three bidesmosidic oleanolic acid saponins with strong inhibitory activity on pancreatic lipase

The first synthesis of scabiosaponins E (1), F (2), and G (3), three new oleanolic acid saponins with strong inhibitory activity on pancreatic lipase isolated from the Chinese traditional medicinal herb Scabiosa tschiliensis, was efficiently achieved in an one-pot strategy under the combined use of glycosyl trichloroacetimidates and p-toluene 1-thioglycosides (STol) as donors.

Synthesis of neosaponins and neoglycolipids containing a chacotriosyl moiety

Alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1-->4)-[alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1-->2)]-beta-D-glucopyranose (chacotriose) is the oligosaccharide moiety of dioscin. Chacotriosyl trichloroacetimidate was synthesized from d-glucose and l-rhamnose, and glycosylated to mevalonate (diosgenin, cholesterol, and glycyrrhetic acid) to yield dioscin and neosaponins. In order to simplify the structure of the aglycone part, the mevalonate moiety was replaced with double-chain neoglycolipids that mimicked glycosyl ceramides. A cytotoxicity test revealed the importance of the glycosidic linkage of the naturally occurring beta-form and that dioscin and the neoglycolipid with the longest chain showed a moderate activity.

Synthesis, cytotoxicity, and hemolytic activity of 6'-O-substituted dioscin derivatives

Dioscin derivatives (1-12) with a variety of substitutions at the 6'-OH of the chacotriosyl residue and the 3',6'-anhydrosaponin derivatives (26, 30, and 32) were synthesized. All these derivatives showed much lower cytotoxicity than that of the parent dioscin, while their hemolytic activities were partially retained depending on the various 6'-O-substitutions.

Exploration of the correlation between the structure, hemolytic activity, and cytotoxicity of steroid saponins

The hemolytic activity of a collection of 63 steroid saponins was determined. The correlations between these structures and their hemolytic and cytotoxic activities are discussed. It has been demonstrated that the hemolytic activity of steroid saponins is highly dependent on their structures, that is, the sugar length, the sugar linkage, the substitutes on the sugar, as well as the aglycone. It has also been disclosed that the hemolytic activity and cytotoxicity of steroid saponins are not correlated. These results suggest that steroid saponins execute hemolysis and cytotoxic activity in different mechanisms, and encourage to develop steroid saponins into potent antitumor agents devoid of the detrimental effect of hemolysis.