Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Novel Tetrahydroisoquinoline Derivatives as Antitumor Agents

Fifteen novel tetrahydroisoquinoline derivatives have been synthesized via a mild synthetic route. The structures of all the compounds were confirmed by 1 H NMR spectra, 13 C NMR spectra and mass spectra. Their antitumor activities were evaluated in four human tumor cell lines, including human colon carcinoma (HCT116), non-small cell lung cancer (H1975), human lung adenocarcinoma (A549) and human pancreatic cancer (BxPC-3). Among them, compounds 4i and 4j exhibited remarkable growth inhibitory activity against the subtotal tested subpanel tumor cell lines particularly H1975 with GI values of 59.1 and 63.0 %, respectively.