Studies on quinones. Part 42: Synthesis of furylquinone and hydroquinones with antiproliferative activity against human tumor cell lines.

Julio Benites, Jaime A Valderrama, Felipe Rivera, Leonel Rojo, Nair Campos, Madalena Pedro, María Säo José Nascimento

Index: Bioorg. Med. Chem. 16(2) , 862-8, (2008)

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Abstract

The preparation of furyl-1,4-quinone and hydroquinones by reaction of 2-furaldehyde N,N-dimethylhydrazone with benzo- and naphthoquinones is reported. Access to furylnaphthoquinones from unactivated quinones requires acid-induced conditions, however oxidative coupling reactions of activated quinones proceed under neutral conditions. The in vitro cytotoxic activity of the prepared compounds against a panel of three human cancer cell lines has been studied. Most of the furyl-1,4-quinones exhibited good antiproliferative activity (GI(50)=6.5-33.5microm) against the MCF-7, NCI-H460, and SF-268 (CNS cancer) cell lines chosen for testing.