Synthesis, crystal structure and biological activity of β-carboline based selective CDK4-cyclin D1 inhibitors

Article abstract of DOI:10.1039/b613861f

The design, synthesis and biological activity of a series of non-planar dihydro-β-carboline and β-carboline-based derivatives of the toxic anticancer agent fascaplysin is presented. We show these compounds to be selective inhibitors of CDK4 over CDK2 with an IC₅₀ (CDK4-cyclin D1) = 11 mol for the best compound in the series 4d. The crystallographic analysis of some of the compounds synthesised (3b/d and 4a-d) was carried out, in an effort to estimate the structural similarities between the designed inhibitors and the model compound fascaplysin. The Royal Society of Chemistry.