Pentathiepins are an understudied molecular prism of biological activities

The pentathiepin core was first synthesized in 1971, and while synthetic techniques have progressed over subsequent decades, the biological applications of this heterocycle have received less attention and are only now becoming more apparent. The first natural product, varacin, was identified in 1991, showing cytotoxicity toward a human colon cancer cell line. More recently, the pentathiepin has acted as a surrogate to replace elemental sulfur, that was discovered as a hit in neurodegenerative animal models. A variety of other medicinal chemistry applications have recently been disclosed. Here, we summarize these indications and highlight the main synthetic pathways to access the pentathiepin core. We offer a concise summary and future perspective of this unique sulfur isosteric replacement.

On the origin of cytotoxicity of the natural product varacin. A novel example of a pentathiepin reaction that provides evidence for a triatomic sulfur intermediate

A density functional theoretical study is presented, which implicates a novel S(3)-cleavage in the decomposition of a pentathiepin. This study predicts an interconversion between a pentathiepin and an open-chain polysulfur ion intermediate from which a key determinant in the chemistry then follows. Expulsion of diatomic sulfur, S(2), is unlikely from the unimolecular collapse of the open-chain polysulfur ion. Instead, S(3) can dissociate due to an unusually long and weak sulfur-sulfur (S4-S5) bond. A mechanistic picture now emerges which predicts that the novel S-S cleavage reaction and the unanticipated S(3) fragmentation are a result of delocalization of the negative charge within the remaining carbon-sulfur fragment. The computed results presented here reveal a new aspect to the chemistry of pentathiepins, that of S(3) unit transfer, which is proposed to have significance in the mechanism of cytotoxicity of the natural product varacin, 1.