Synthesis of Flavone Derivatives via N-Amination and Evaluation of Their Anticancer Activities

Flavones and Related Compounds: Synthesis and Biological Activity

This review focuses on the synthesis and biological activity of flavones and their related flavonoidic compounds, namely flavonols and aurones. Among the biological activities of natural and synthetic flavones and aurones, their anticancer, antioxidant, and antimicrobial properties are highlighted and detailed in this review. Starting from the structures of natural flavones acting on multiple anticancer targets (myricetin, genkwanin, and other structurally related compounds), new flavone analogs were recently designed and evaluated for their anticancer activity. The most representative compounds and their anticancer activity are summarized in this review. Natural flavones recognized for their antimicrobial properties (baicalein, luteolin, quercetol, apigenin, kaempferol, tricin) have been recently derivatized or structurally modulated by chemical synthetic methods in order to obtain new effective antimicrobial flavonoidic derivatives with improved biological properties. The most promising antimicrobial agents are systematically highlighted in this review. The most applied method for the synthesis of flavones and aurones is based on the oxidative cyclization of o-hydroxychalcones. Depending on the reaction conditions and the structure of the precursor, in some cases, several cyclization products result simultaneously: flavones, flavanones, flavonols, and aurones. Based on the literature data and the results obtained by our research group, our aim is to highlight the most promising methods for the synthesis of flavones, as well as the synthetic routes for the other structurally related cyclization products, such as hydroxyflavones and aurones, while considering that, in practice, it is difficult to predict which is the main or exclusive cyclization product of o-hydroxychalcones under certain reaction conditions.

Why Do Dietary Flavonoids Have a Promising Effect as Enhancers of Anthracyclines? Hydroxyl Substituents, Bioavailability and Biological Activity

Anthracyclines currently play a key role in the treatment of many cancers, but the limiting factor of their use is the widespread phenomenon of drug resistance and untargeted toxicity. Flavonoids have pleiotropic, beneficial effects on human health that, apart from antioxidant activity, are currently considered small molecules-starting structures for drug development and enhancers of conventional therapeutics. This paper is a review of the current and most important data on the participation of a selected series of flavonoids: chrysin, apigenin, kaempferol, quercetin and myricetin, which differ in the presence of an additional hydroxyl group, in the formation of a synergistic effect with anthracycline antibiotics. The review includes a characterization of the mechanism of action of flavonoids, as well as insight into the physicochemical parameters determining their bioavailability in vitro. The crosstalk between flavonoids and the molecular activity of anthracyclines discussed in the article covers the most important common areas of action, such as (1) disruption of DNA integrity (genotoxic effect), (2) modulation of antioxidant response pathways, and (3) inhibition of the activity of membrane proteins responsible for the active transport of drugs and xenobiotics. The increase in knowledge about the relationship between the molecular structure of flavonoids and their biological effect makes it possible to more effectively search for derivatives with a synergistic effect with anthracyclines and to develop better therapeutic strategies in the treatment of cancer.

Recent Development of Flavonoids with Various Activities

Flavonoids, a series of compounds with C6-C3-C6 structure, mostly originate from plant metabolism. Flavonoids have shown beneficial effects on many aspects of human physiology and health. Recently, many flavonoids with various activities have been discovered, which has led to more and more studies focusing on their physiological and pharmacodynamic activities. The anti-cancer and anti-viral activities especially have attracted the attention of many researchers. Therefore, the discovery and development of flavonoids as anti-disease drugs has great potential and may make significant contribution to fighting diseases. This review focus on the discovery and development of flavonoids in medicinal chemistry in recent years.

Synthesis of unprotected glyco-alkynones via molybdenum-catalyzed carbonylative Sonogashira cross-coupling reaction

Herein we report a novel Mo-catalyzed carbonylative Sonogashira cross-coupling between 2-iodoglycals and terminal alkynes. The reaction displays major improvements compared to a related Pd-catalyzed procedure previously published by our group, such as utilizing unprotected sugar derivatives as starting materials and tolerance to substrates bearing chelating groups. In this work we also demonstrate the utility of the glyco-alkynone products as platform for further functionalization by synthesizing glyco-flavones via Au-catalyzed 6-endo-dig cyclization.

Thermal ellipsoid representation of compound 3a.

Design, synthesis, and evaluation of proliferation inhibitory activity of novel L-shaped ortho-quinone analogs as anticancer agents

In this study, we present the design and synthesis of novel fully synthetic L-shaped ortho-quinone analogs with tanshinone IIA as the lead compoud, which is a molecule with numerous pharmacological benefits and potential to treat life-threatening diseases, such as cancer and viral infections. 24 L-shaped ortho-quinone analogs were designed and synthesized via click chemistry and introduced 1,2,3-triazole at the C-2 terminal of the furan ring. The cytotoxicity of these analogs toward different cancer cell lines was investigated in vitro. The new TD compounds showed potent inhibitory activities toward prostate cancer (PC3), leukemia (K562), breast cancer (MDA-231), lung cancer (A549), and cervical cancer (Hela) cell lines. Among them, TD1, TD11, and TD17 showed excellent broad-spectrum cytotoxic effects on five cancer cell lines by inducing apoptosis and arresting the cell cycle phase. Besides, TD1, TD11, and TD17 could target-bind with NQO1 protein in the prostate cancer cells PC3 leukemia cells K562. The results showed that removing the methyl group at C-3 and introducing 1,2,3-triazoles at the C-2 terminal of the furan ring were effective strategies for improving the broad-spectrum anticancer activity of L-shaped ortho-quinone analogs.