Synthesis and antitumor evaluation of sophocarpine-cinnamic acid ester derivatives as potential antitumor agents / 中草药

ABSTRACT

Objective: To synthesize sophocarpine-cinnamic acid ester derivatives and evaluate the in vitro antitumor activities of the derivatives. Methods: Taking sophocarpine as the starting material, the target compounds were synthesized by oxidation, esterification, N-alkylation, reduction, condensation, hydrolysis, and salification. Their antitumor activities in vitro were evaluated for HeLa, HepG2 and A-549 by MTT assay. Results: Eleven sophocarpine-cinnamic acid ester derivatives were synthesized and the structures were characterized by 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR and HRMS. MTT assay showed that some derivatives exhibited good antitumor activities. Compound 5g showed good antitumor activity against three human tumor cell lines, which was better than that of the positive control drug, cisplatin. Conclusion: Some derivatives showed promising antitumor activities and compound 5g was worth further studying.