Phloroglucinol derivatives as anti-tumor agents: synthesis, biological activity evaluation and molecular docking studies

Authors：Zhang, Fuli; Lai, Qingfu; Lai, Weihong; Li, Ming; Jin, Xiaobao; Ye, Lianbao^*

Source：MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY RESEARCH, 2022, 31(1): 165-176.

DOI：10.1007/s00044-021-02828-0

• Phloroglucinol derivatives
• antitumor activity
• synthesis
• cell apoptosis
• molecular docking

Phloroglucinol compounds isolated from Dryopteris fragrans (L.) Schott showed a variety of biological activities, such as anticancer and anti-inflammatory. In this study, we have made a number of modifications around the scaffold of phloroglucinol and synthesized phloroglucinol derivatives A1-A9, B1-B9, and C1-C3. We synthesized these compounds and investigated their effect on four human cancer cell lines (A-549, MCF-7, Hela, HepG2 cell lines) via MTT assay in vitro. The results revealed that all compounds exhibited certain antiproliferative activities on cancer cell lines and excellent inhibitory effects on MCF-7, in which compound C2 was the best with the IC50 value of 18.49 mu M, exceeding that of 5-fluorouracil. Moreover, the cell apoptosis test showed that compound C2 induced apoptosis in a concentration-dependent manner. Furthermore, the results of molecular docking analysis explained the probable interaction between the active compounds and active sites of target protein 4I22 and 1OG5.

• Institution
  广东药学院