1
4
inhibitor saxagliptin, the phosphodiesterase-3 inhibitor, heart
level of antiproliferative activity than that of DDP in three
different cancer cell lines and 16 compounds had selective toxic
effects on cancer cells, with fewer toxic effects on the non-
cancerous human liver cell line L-02. Against HCT116 and BEL-
1
5
failure inhibitory drug milrinone, and the calcium channel
antagonist verapamil, which are indicated for a variety of
different clinical conditions.
1
0
7
402 cell lines, the inhibitory activity of approximately half of
Nitrile substitution enables the generation of a 2,3-diaryl
acrylonitrile agent that is amenable to further structural
modifications for medicinal chemistry purposes. On the basis of
these results, we were interested in designing and synthesizing a
number of novel compounds bearing resveratrol and cyano
moieties (Scheme 1).
compounds 4a–4z and 5a–5d was >50% of the antiproliferative
effects. However, only six of these compounds such as 4d and 4p
had >50% inhibitory potency against HeLa cells. Importantly, the
activity of 4d and 4p against HeLa cells was superior to that of
taxol (IC50=12.95 μM); the IC50 values were 4.2 and 7.77 μM,
respectively. Interestingly, except compounds 4j, 5c and 5d, the
other 27 compounds had less than 50% antiproliferative activity
against the human normal cell line L-02 (Table S1). In general,
para-dimethyl amino derivatives were selectively active against
cancer cells, and the methyl and methoxy derivatives were vital
for conferring selective antiproliferative effects. Several of these
derivatives had IC50 values suggesting an excellent level of
1
6
selectivity, such as para-N(CH
μM), para-CH (4n) against BEL-7402 (0.59 μM), para-CH
4o) against BEL-7402 (0.35 μM), and para-OCH CH
3
)
2
(4m) against HCT116 (0.59
CH
(4p)
3
2
3
(
2
3
against HCT116 (0.13 μM). Several of these agents obtained a
selectivity index (SI) >50, indicating that the agents are
considered the good candidate drugs (Table 1 and 2). In
particular, compound 4p demonstrated an SI value >769 in
HCT116 cells relative to L-02 cells, suggesting that 4p has
potential as a treatment for colon cancer, with a low risk of
cytotoxic effects on liver cells. However, when 2,3-diaryl
acrylonitrile derivatives are conjugated with carbon chains of
more than two carbon atoms for methyl derivatives (data not
shown) and more than three carbon atoms for methoxy
derivatives (4r-4u), this resulted in a loss of antiproliferative
activity. The meta-alkoxyl (4v, 4w and 4z), ortho-alkoxyl (4u
and 4z), and ortho-alkyl (4y) substituents showed very low
inhibitory activities, which were far worse than those of the
corresponding para structures of the compound. Although
compounds of the para-methyl group (4n) and the para-methoxy
group (4p) had very strong in vitro antitumor activity, the level of
activity of these compounds decreased substantially with the
introduction of more than one methyl group or one methoxy
group, with the exception of methyl or methoxy group in the para
position (4y and 4z). This difference might be the result of a
steric effect. In general, halogen-containing activities of para-
position (4c, 4d and 4e) and ortho-position (4f, 4g and 4h)
substituted halogen-containing compounds were stronger than
those of meta-substituted (4k and 4l) compounds. Most of the
derivatives of halogen substituents of the benzene ring (4c–4h, 4j)
or B ring (Scheme 1) were modified to aromatic heterocycles
(5a–5d), and had potent antitumor effects, with fewer toxic
effects on L-02 cells, although the SI values of these compounds
were not as high as those of several of the halogen substituents.
These results indicate that several of the synthesized series of
2,3-diaryl acrylonitrile derivatives have more specific
antiproliferative effects on cancer cell lines, with fewer toxic
effects on a L-02 human normal cell line compared with
resveratrol. Several compounds with strong activity and SI values
indicating a promising level of selectivity for cancer cells,
relative to the L-02 cell line, are listed in Table 2. To further
confirm whether these have any antibacterial activity, we have
investigated the antibacterial effects of these compounds against
several Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus RN4220 and
Streptococcus mutans 3289) and Gram-negative (Escherichia
coli KCTC1924 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa 2742) strains of
bacteria. The detailed processes are described in supplementary
data. The results indicated that none of these derivatives have any
notable activity against either Gram-positive or Gram-negative
bacteria, even at 64 µg/mL.
Scheme 1. Reagents and conditions: (I): (CH
reflux, 4 h; LiAlH4, THF, 0°C-rt, 4-6 h; CH Cl
CH
aldehydes, 4-6 h.
3
)
2
SO
4
, (CH
3
)
2
CO, K
2
CO
(II):
ONa, aromatic
3
,
2
2
, PBr
3
, 0°C-rt, 3-6 h
;
3
CN, TMSCN, TBAF, reflux, 4-6 h; (III): CH
3
OH, CH
3
In this research, we synthesized a series of novel derivatives of
,3-diaryl acrylonitrile using a unusual method that avoids the
2
use of sodium cyanide or potassium cyanide, which are both
17
highly toxic. Briefly, TMSCN (trimethylsilyl cyanide) and
TBAF (tetrabutylammonium fluoride) were used in the process of
synthesizing
3
from
2
(Scheme 1), which is more
environmentally friendly, and safer than the use of sodium or
potassium cyanide. The concise synthetic route used to
synthesize the title compounds is outlined in Scheme 1. The
detailed synthetic method and information on the structural and
physiochemical characteristics of the compounds can be found in
the supplementary material. Owing to the existence of a cyano-
steric effect, the final structure was fixed to the cis-isomer,
confirmed by NOE (nuclear overhauser effect) (supplementary
data). The trans-isomer structure of resveratrol is more stable and
18,19
has more useful properties than the cis-isomer,
therefore,
trans-resveratrol was used as the reference compound. The
synthesis of trans-resveratrol is presented in supplementary
material. All compounds were evaluated for their in vitro
antitumor activities against a panel of human tumor cell lines and
normal human liver cells (L-02) using an MTT (methylthiazolyl
diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide) assay, with taxol and cisplatin
(DDP) as the reference agents. The panel consisted of human
colorectal cancer (HCT116), human cervical cancer (HeLa) and
human liver cancer (BEL-7402) cells. The antiproliferative
potency of the various 2,3-diaryl acrylonitrile derivatives against
these four human cell lines is shown in Fig. 2. On the basis of
data from a preliminary MTT assay, the IC50 values of a range of
2,3-diaryl acrylonitrile derivatives against the four cell lines were
further investigated. The substituent structures, cytotoxicity (IC50
and selectivity index are listed in Table 1 and, for more detailed
inhibition rates, see Table S1.
)
As shown in Fig. 2, 100 μM of resveratrol had a significant
antiproliferative effect on HCT116, BEL-7402 and L-02 cells.
These data indicate that resveratrol has limited tumor selectivity
and that this agent might be more toxic to L-02 non-cancerous
normal cells. To explore the structure-activity relationships (SAR)
resulting in more potent and selective antiproliferative effects, we
substituted various groups on the benzene ring with a variety of
different moieties, such as halogens, methyl groups, methoxy
groups, and amines. The most of tested compounds had a higher
3