Design, synthesis of symmetrical bivalent mimetics of annonaceous acetogenins and their cytotoxicities

A new series of linear dimeric compounds mimicking naturally occurring annonaceous acetogenins have been synthesized by bivalent analogue design, and their cytotoxicities have been evaluated against the growth of cancer cells by MTT method. Most of these compounds show selective action favored to human cancer cell lines over normal cell lines, and compound 9 with bis-terminal benzoquinone functionality exhibits an IC(50) = 0.40 mu M against MCF7 cell lines. This work mentions that appropriate conformational constraints might be a useful optimizing tool for this unique class of anticancer compounds. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.