The anticancer activity of Amaryllidaceae isocarbostyrils is well documented. At pharmacological concentrations, that is, approximately 1 μM in vitro and approximately 10 mg/kg in vivo, narciclasine displays marked proapoptotic and cytotoxic activity, as does pancratistatin, and significant in vivo anticancer effects in various experimental models, but it is also associated with severe toxic side effects. At physiological doses, that is, approximately 50 nM in vitro and approximately 1 mg/kg in vivo, narciclasine is not cytotoxic but cytostatic and displays marked anticancer activity in vivo in experimental models of brain cancer (including gliomas and brain metastases), but it is not associated with toxic side effects. The cytostatic activity of narciclasine involves the impairment of actin cytoskeleton organization by targeting GTPases, including RhoA and the elongation factor eEF1A. We have demonstrated that chronic treatments of narciclasine (1 mg/kg) significantly increased the survival of immunodeficient mice orthotopically xenografted with highly invasive human glioblastomas and apoptosis-resistant brain metastases, including melanoma- and non-small-cell-lung cancer-(NSCLC) related brain metastases. Thus, narciclasine is a potentially promising agent for the treatment of primary brain cancers and various brain metastases. To date, efforts to develop synthetic analogs with anticancer properties superior to those of narciclasine have failed; thus, research efforts are now focused on narciclasine prodrugs.

The Amaryllidaceae alkaloid bulbispermine was derivatized to produce a small group of synthetic analogues. These, together with bulbispermine's natural crinine-type congeners, were evaluated in vitro against a panel of cancer cell lines with various levels of resistance to pro-apoptotic stimuli. Bulbispermine, haemanthamine, and haemanthidine showed the most potent antiproliferative activities as determined by the MTT colorimetric assay. Among the synthetic bulbispermine analogues, only the C1,C2-dicarbamate derivative exhibited notable growth inhibitory properties. All active compounds were found not to discriminate between the cancer cell lines based on the apoptosis sensitivity criterion; they displayed similar potencies in both cell types, indicating that the induction of apoptosis is not the primary mechanism responsible for antiproliferative activity in this series of compounds. It was also found that bulbispermine inhibits the proliferation of glioblastoma cells through cytostatic effects, possibly arising from rigidification of the actin cytoskeleton. These findings lead us to argue that crinine-type alkaloids are potentially useful drug leads for the treatment of apoptosis-resistant cancers and glioblastoma in particular.

Covering: 2000 to 2011Phenazines are a large group of natural and synthesised nitrogen-containing heterocycles, including more than 100 different compounds of natural origin and over 6000 synthetic compounds. Many of these compounds have been investigated as potential anti-cancer agents. Despite a large number of research publications, no recent attempt to summarise and critically evaluate the experimental findings relating to the anti-cancer activity of this class of compounds has been made. The present review fills this gap in the literature and discusses both natural and synthetic phenazines with a critical focus on in vitro, in vivo and available clinical anti-cancer activities of these compounds.

A multicomponent reaction of 3-aminopyrazol-5-ones with substituted salicylic aldehydes and acetylacetic ester leading to the formation of novel 2,3-dihydrochromeno[4,3-d]pyrazolo[3,4-b]pyridine-1,6-diones was discovered. The elucidation of the reaction scope revealed that 5-aminopyrazoles, 3-amino-1,2,4-triazoles and 6-aminouracil could be used as the heterocyclic amine component. Selected heterocyclic products were found to possess notable antibacterial activities.

An unprecedented application of aryliodine (III) diacetates as substrates in Pd-Ag catalyzed arylation of alkenes is described. The mechanistic studies revealed that the binary Pd-Ag catalysis leads to the decomposition of aryliodine (III) diacetates to oxygen and aryl iodides followed by arylation of alkenes forming Heck-type products. Under optimized conditions both electron-rich and electron-deficient alkenes undergo arylation in high yields. Advantageously, the reaction proceeds smoothly in water as a solvent and neither organic ligands nor inert atmosphere are required.

As a continuation of our studies aimed at the development of a new cytostatic agent derived from an Amaryllidaceae alkaloid lycorine, we synthesized 32 analogues of this natural product. This set of synthetic analogues included compounds incorporating selective derivatization of the C1 versus C2 hydroxyl groups, aromatized ring C, lactamized N6 nitrogen, dihydroxylated C3-C3a olefin functionality, transposed olefin from C3-C3a to C2-C3 or C3a-C4, and C1 long-chain fatty esters. All synthesized compounds were evaluated for antiproliferative activities in vitro in a panel of tumor cell lines including those exhibiting resistance to proapoptotic stimuli and representing solid cancers associated with dismal prognoses, such as melanoma, glioblastoma, and non-small-cell lung cancer. Most active analogues were not discriminatory between cancer cells displaying resistance or sensitivity to apoptosis, indicating that these compounds are thus able to overcome the intrinsic resistance of cancer cells to pro-apoptotic stimuli. 1,2-Di-O-allyllycorine was identified as a lycorine analogue, which is 100 times more potent against a U373 human glioblastoma model than the parent natural product. Furthermore, a number of synthetic analogues were identified as promising for the forthcoming in vivo studies.

Ln(SePh)(3)(Ln = Ce, Pr, Nd), prepared by reduction of PhSeSePh with elemental Ln and Hg catalyst, reacts with excess elemental Se to give (py)(11)Ln(7)Se(21)HgSePh, an ellipsoidal polyselenide cluster. The molecular structure contains two square arrays of eight- or nine-coordinate Ln fused at one edge to form a V shape that is also capped on the concave side by a centrally located nine-coordinate (Se(3))pyLn(Se(3)) and on the convex side by a 2-fold disordered SeHgSePh. The central Ln coordinates to selenido, triselenido, and pyridine ligands, while all other Ln coordinate to selenido, diselenido, triselenido, and pyridine ligands. Thermal treatment of the Pr compound at 650 °C gave Pr(2)Se(3) and Pr(3)Se(4). NIR emission studies of the Nd compound show four transitions from the excited-state (4)F(3/2) ion to (4)I(9/2),(4)I(11/2),(4)I(13/2), and (4)I(15/2) states. The (4)F(3/2) ion to (4)I(11/2) transition (1075 nm emission) exhibited 43% quantum efficiency. This is the highest quantum efficiency reported for a 'molecular' Nd compound and leads a group of selenide-based clusters that has shown extraordinary quantum efficiency. In terms of efficiency and concentration, these compounds compare favorably with solid-state materials.

The synthesis of two C-1 analogues of pancratistatin has been accomplished in 17 steps from bromobenzene. The key steps involved the enzymatic dihydroxylation, regioselective opening of epoxyaziridine 9 with the alane derived from 8, a solid-state silica-gel-catalyzed intramolecular opening of aziridine to produce phenanthrene 13 whose oxidative cleavage and recyclization provided the full skeleton of the Amaryllidaceae constituents. The new analogues 5 and 6 exhibited promising activity in several human cancer cell lines.

A novel reaction of indole with aryldiazonium salts leading to the formation of 2-aryl-3-(arylazo)indoles was discovered. The products were found to possess potent anti-MRSA and anti-LLVRE activities. The SAR studies indicate that the potentially metabolically labile azo functionality can be replaced with ether oxygen and thioether sulfur atoms without any loss of activity.

Structural simplification of an antimitotic natural product podophyllotoxin with mimetic heterocyclic scaffolds constructed using multicomponent reactions led to the identification of compounds exhibiting low nanomolar antiproliferative and apoptosis-inducing properties. The most potent compounds were found in the dihydropyridopyrazole, dihydropyridonaphthalene, dihydropyridoindole, and dihydropyridopyrimidine scaffold series. Biochemical mechanistic studies performed with dihydropyridopyrazole compounds showed that these heterocycles inhibit in vitro tubulin polymerization and disrupt the formation of mitotic spindles in dividing cells at low nanomolar concentrations, in a manner similar to podophyllotoxin itself. Separation of a racemic dihydropyridonaphthalene into individual enantiomers demonstrated that only the optical antipode matching the absolute configuration of podophyllotoxin possessed potent anticancer activity. Computer modeling, performed using the podophyllotoxin binding site on β-tubulin, provided a theoretical understanding of these successful experimental findings.