Preparation and cytotoxicity of podophyllotoxin derivatives lacking the lactone ring

Article abstract of DOI:10.1016/S0040-4020(97)10042-4

Several cyclolignans lacking of the Iactone moiety can easily be prepared from naturally occurring lignans such as podophyllotoxin and deoxypodophyllotoxin by simple chemical transformations. Their cytotoxicity has been studied in four tumoral cell lines. Most of the compounds show similar effects in all the neoplastic systems tested, except the 3 aldehyde 9 (methyl 9-deoxy-9-oxo-α-apopicropodophyllate) and the hydrazones 16 and 17 which show a highly selective cytotoxicity towards HT-29 human colon carcinoma. Additionally, several molecular modeling studies have been done with aldehyde 9 and the correspnding saturated aldehyde 13 in comparison with podophyllotoxin.