Synthesis and antitumor activity of novel indole podophyllotoxin derivatives

Abstract

According to drug design flattening principle,a series of novel indole podophyllotoxin derivatives which were introduced different indole substituents in C-4 position on the basis of podophyllotoxin nucleus were synthesized with the starting material podophyllotoxin and 1 H-indole-5-carboxylic acid. Its anti-tumor activity in vitro was tested in order to screen for high-efficiency and low-toxic compounds. Six target compounds were synthesized,and were confirmed by~1 H-NMR,~(13)C-NMR,HR-ESI-MS and melting point determination analysis. All these target compounds were not reported by previous literature. Using etoposide as positive control drug,all the target compounds were screened for cytotoxicity against He La cells,K562 cells and K562/A02 cell in vitro by MTT method. The antitumor activity screening results showed that compounds 4 b,4 e,4 f exhibited higher inhibitory rate against He La cells and K562 cells than those of control drug VP-16. This route has the advantages on simple operation and reasonable design,provides some practical reference value for the further development on the structure modification of podophyllotoxin and study on anti-tumor activity.