Title:2, 4, 5-Trideoxyhexopyranosides Derivatives of 4’-Demethylepipodophyllotoxin: De novo Synthesis and Anticancer Activity
Volume: 18
Issue: 1
Author(s): Yapeng Lu, Li Zhu, Rui Cai, Yu Li and Yu Zhao*
Affiliation:
- School of Pharmacy, Nantong University, Nantong 226001,China
Keywords:
4'-demethylepipodophyllotoxin, De novo synthesis, anticancer agents, 2, 4, 5-trideoxyhexopyranosides, glycosylation,
cell cycle arrest.
Abstract:
Background: Podophyllotoxin is a natural lignan which possesses anticancer and antiviral
activities. Etoposide and teniposide are semisynthetic glycoside derivatives of podophyllotoxin and
are increasingly used in cancer medicine.
Objective: The present work aimed to design and synthesize a series of 2, 4, 5-trideoxyhexopyranosides
derivatives of 4’-demethylepipodophyllotoxin as novel anticancer agents.
Methods: A divergent de novo synthesis of 2, 4, 5-trideoxyhexopyranosides derivatives of 4’-
demethylepipodophyllotoxin has been established via palladium-catalyzed glycosylation. The abilities
of synthesized glycosides to inhibit the growth of A549, HepG2, SH-SY5Y, KB/VCR and HeLa
cancer cells were investigated by MTT assay. Flow cytometric analysis of cell cycle with propidium
iodide DNA staining was employed to observe the effect of compound 5b on cancer cell cycle.
Results: Twelve D and L monosaccharide derivatives 5a-5l have been efficiently synthesized in three
steps from various pyranone building blocks employing de novo glycosylation strategy. Dmonosaccharide
5b showed the highest cytotoxicity on five cancer cell lines with the IC50 values
ranging from 0.9 to 6.7 μM. It caused HepG2 cycle arrest at G2/M phase in a concentrationdependent
manner.
Conclusion: The present work leads to the development of novel 2, 4, 5-trideoxyhexopyranosides
derivatives of 4’-demethylepipodophyllotoxin. The biological results suggest that the replacement of
the glucosyl moiety of etoposide with 2, 4, 5-trideoxyhexopyranosyl is favorable to their cytotoxicity.
D-monosaccharide 5b was observed to cause HepG2 cycle arrest at the G2/M phase in a concentration-
dependent manner.