13 M. S. Ali, M. Jahangir, S. S. ul Hussan and M. I. Choudhary, Phytochem-
istry, 2002, 60, 295.
14 I. Okamoto, T. Takeya, Y. Kagawa and E. Kotani, Chem. Pharm. Bull.,
2000, 48, 120.
15 e.g. (a) S. Qian, H. Li, Y. Chen, W. Zhang, S. Yang and Y. Wu, J. Nat.
Prod., 2010, 73, 1743; (b) C. S. Graebin, H. Verli, J. A. Guimarães and
J. Braz, Chem. Soc., 2010, 21, 1595.
16 The synthesis was performed as follows: To a solution of triterpene 2
(940 mg, 2.0 mmol) in dried CH2Cl2 (15 mL), a solution of a 2-fold
amount (690 mg) of m-CPBA in dried CH2Cl2 (10 mL) was added and
the resulting solution was left in darkness at room temperature overnight.
After that it was washed successively with 5% solutions of FeSO4,
Na2CO3, HCl and finally water. The organic solution was dried, filtered,
evaporated to dryness and the resulted residue was chromatographed on
silica gel. Compound 3: yield: 710 mg (73.4%), mp.: 158 °C (C6H6),
white needles
17 T. Honda, B. A. V. Rounds, L. Bore, H. J. Finlay, F. G. Jr. Favaloro,
N. Suh, Y. Wang, M. B. Sporn and G. W. Gribble, J. Med. Chem., 2000,
43, 4233.
18 Ch. Ma, N. Nakamura and M. Hattori, Chem. Pharm. Bull., 2000, 48,
1681.
study to estimate the cell number by providing a sensitive index
of total cellular protein content, being linear to cell density. The
monolayer cell culture was trypsinized and the cell count was
adjusted to 5 × 104 cells. To each well of a 96-well microtiter
plate, 0.1 mL of the diluted cell suspension (approximately
10 000 cells) was added. After 24 h, when a partial monolayer
was formed, the supernatant was washed out and 100 μL of six
different compound concentrations (0.1 μM, 0.2 μM, 1.0 μM,
2.0 μM, 10.0 μM, 20.0 μM) were added to the cells in microtiter
plates. The compounds investigated were dissolved in DMSO
(20 μL) and the content of DMSO did not exceed 0.1%, the con-
centration was found to be nontoxic to the cell lines. The cells
were exposed to compounds for 72 h. After this time, 25 μL of
50% trichloroacetic acid was added to the wells and the plates
were incubated for 1 h at 4 °C. Then the plates were washed out
with the distilled water to remove traces of medium and then
dried in air. The air-dried plates were stained with 100 μL SRB
and kept for 30 min at room temperature. The unbound dye was
removed by rapidly washing with 1% acetic acid and then air
dried overnight. The optical density was read at 490 nm.27 All
cytotoxicity experiments were performed three times and the
values presented in Table 1 are the mean values. Cell survival
was measured as the percentage absorbance compared to the
control (non-treated cells).
19 Compound 4: yield: 850 mg (85.2%); mp.: 194–195°C (ethanol), white
needles; mol. mass: 499.73; IR (KBr; ν, cm−1): 3410 (OH, N-OH); 1720
(CvO, C̲O̲
OCH3); 1705 (CvO, C-12); 930 (N-O, N-OH); 1H NMR
(300 MHz, CDCl3; δ, ppm): 9.04 (1H, s/br./, N-OH); 3.73 (3H, s,
COOCH3); 2.79 (1H, dt, J = 3.4 and 11.6 Hz, C18–H); 2.62 (1H, d, J =
4.1 Hz, C13–H); 1.16; 1.06; 0.99; 0.97; 0.97; 0.92; 0.90 (21H, singlets, 7
× CH3); 13C NMR (75 MHz, CDCl3; δ, ppm): 211.4 (C-12); 178.4
(C̲O̲OCH3); 166.3 (C-3); 51.8 (COOC̲H̲3); 48.1 (C-17); 43.3 (C-13);
̲
32.7 (C-18); DEPT: 8 × CH3, 10 × CH2, 4 × CH; EIMS (m/z): 499.3
(30.9%) M+˙
The cytotoxic activity of semi-synthetic oleanane-type deriva-
tives has been investigated. The overall results suggest that some
of the new oleanolates can effectively inhibit the growth of KB,
MCF-7 and HeLa cancer cell lines at microgram concentrations
and could be promising new anticancer agents. The hydroxy-
imino derivatives were shown to be more potent anticancer
agents in comparison to their mother compounds. The substi-
tution of a hydrogen atom within a hydroxyimino function with
propionyl group, led to a further significant intensification of
anticancer activity. The introduction of an electron withdrawing
substituent into the acyloxyimino group on the C-12 atom led to
a moderate increase in anticancer activity.
20 T. Honda, H. J. Finlay, G. W. Gribble, N. Suh and M. B. Sporn, Bioorg.
Med. Chem. Lett., 1997, 7, 1623.
21 For compound 7: yield 848 mg (78.0%); mp.: 196–198.5 °C (ethanol),
white needles; mol. mass: 543.79; IR (KBr; ν, cm−1): 3430 (OH, N-OH);
1730 and 1710 (CvO, CH3COO and COOCH3); 905 (N-O, N-OH); 1H
NMR (300 MHz, CDCl3; δ, ppm): 8.05 (1H, s/br/, N-OH); 4.47 (1H, dt,
J = 5.7 and 10.5 Hz, C3-H); 3.67 (3H, s, COOCH3); 2.85 (1H, dt, J = 3.3
and 11.0 Hz; C18-H); 2.52 (1H, d, J = 3.7 Hz; C13-H); 2.04 (3H, s,
CH3COO); 0.91; 0.91; 0.88; 0.87; 0.85; 0.85; 0.81 (7 × 3H, 7 × s, 7 ×
CH3); 13C NMR (75 MHz, CDCl3; δ, ppm): 178.5 (C-28); 170.8
(CH3C̲O̲O); 159.8 (C-12); 80.7 (C-3); 51.8 (COOC̲H3̲ ); 48.1 (C-17);
̲
43.3 (C-13); 32.7 (C-18); 21.3 (C̲H̲3COO); EIMS (m/z): 543.4 (49.6)
̲
M+˙; Anal. calcd for C33H53NO5 (%): C = 72.89; H = 9.82; N = 2.58;
found: C = 72.53; H = 9.86; N = 2.85
22 The synthesis was performed as follows (general method): To a stirred at
room temperature solution of compound 7 (544 mg, 1.0 mmol) in
dioxane (9 mL) 1.2 mmol of carboxylic acid and 1.5 mmol of DCC was
added. The stirring was continued at room temperature for about 30 min.
The resulting precipitate was filtered, washed with dioxane and the filtrate
was poured into a 5-fold volume of water slightly acidified with HCl. The
obtained precipitate was filtered, washed with water, dissolved in ethanol
and reprecipitated with water. The white solid was filtered, washed with
water and dried. Yield >90%
Notes and references
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and C. R. Gattass, Bioorg. Med. Chem., 2007, 15, 7355.
2 Y. Liu, J. Ethnopharmacol., 2005, 100, 92.
23 For compound 8a: yield: 562 mg (95.2%); mp.: 120–125 °C (precipt.
with water from ethanolic solution), white powder; mol. mass: 585.82; IR
3 Y. Zhang, J. X. Li, J. Zhao, S. Z. Wang, Y. Pan, K. Tanaka and S. Kadota,
Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett., 2005, 15, 1629.
4 H. Assefa, A. Nimrod, L. Walker and R. Sindelar, Bioorg. Med. Chem.
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5 Y. N. Zhang, W. Zhang, D. Hong, L. Shi, Q. Shen, J. Y. Li, J. Li and
L. H. Hua, Bioorg. Med. Chem., 2008, 16, 8697.
6 Y. M. Zhu, J. K. Shen, H. K. Wang, L. M. Cosentino and K. H. Lee,
Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett., 2001, 11, 3115.
(KBr; ν, cm−1): 1765 (CvO, CH3C
̲
̲
̲O̲OCH3);
1710 (CvO, CH3C̲O̲
̲
̲
–
̲
̲
̲
̲
̲
̲
̲O̲
7 L. Chen, Y. Zhang, X. Kong, S. Penga and J. Tian, Bioorg. Med. Chem.
Lett., 2007, 17, 2979.
8 L. Zaprutko, D. Partyka and B. Bednarczyk–Cwynar, Bioorg. Med.
Chem. Lett., 2004, 14, 4723.
9 D. Huang, Y. Ding, Y. Li, W. Zhang, W. Fang and X. Chen, Cancer Lett.,
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10 e.g. (a) S. Gupta, K. Kalani, M. Saxena, S. K. Srivastava, S. K. Agrawal,
N. Suri and A. K. Saxena, Nat. Prod. Commun., 2010, 5, 1567;
(b) R. D. Couch, R. G. Browning, T. Honda, G. W. Gribble, D.
L. Wright, M. B. Sporn and A. C. Anderson, Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett.,
2005, 15, 2215.
̲
̲
̲
̲
̲
̲H3̲ COO); DEPT: 10 × CH3, 10 × CH2, 5 × CH;
̲
̲
EIMS (m/z): 585.5 (0.5%) M+˙. For compound 8b: yield: 600 mg
(96.8%); mp.: 118–124 °C (precipt. with water from ethanolic solution),
white powder; mol. mass: 620.27; IR (KBr; ν, cm−1): 1750 (CvO,
ClCH2C
NMR (300 MHz, CDCl3; δ, ppm): 4.47 (1H, dd, J = 4.4 and 11.4 Hz,
C3–H); 4.34 (2H, d, J = 2.7 Hz, ClCH2COO); 3.69 (3H, s, COOCH3);
2.73 (1H, d, J = 3.9 Hz, C18–H); 2.05 (3H, s, C
13.0 Hz, C13–H); 0.96, 0.94, 0.93, 0.88, 0.86, 0.85 × 2 (21H, singlets, 7
× CH3); 13C NMR (δ, ppm): 178.4 (COOCH3); 170.9 (CH3C
O); 168.2
(C-12); 166.7 (ClCH2C ON); 80.3 (C-3); 51.8 (COOCH3); 47.9 (C-17);
̲O̲ON); 1735 (CvO, C̲O̲OCH3); 1715 (CvO, CH3C̲O̲
O); 1H
̲
̲
̲
̲H3̲ COO); 1.94 (1H, d, J =
̲
̲O̲
11 C. Y. Hung and G. C. Yen, LWT–Food Sci. Technol., 2001, 34, 306.
12 K. G. Lewis and D. J. Tucker, Aust. J. Chem., 1983, 36, 2297.
̲
̲
̲ ̲
̲
2204 | Org. Biomol. Chem., 2012, 10, 2201–2205
This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2012