Investigation on the substitution effects of the flavonoids as potent anticancer agents: a structure–activity relationships study

Abstract

Three series of flavonoid analogues substituted with different aminomethyl substitutions at C-6, C-7, and C-8 were designed and synthesized for the structure–activity relationship studies as potent anticancer agents. The prepared analogues were evaluated for their in vitro inhibitory activity against the growth of the hepatic cancer cell lines HepG2 and SMMC-7721. Structure–activity relationships indicated that not only the compounds with amino methyl groups were more active than those without the groups in the same series but also the compounds substituted by aminomethyl groups at position C-8 were more active than those at positions C-6 and C-7.