Experimental and theoretical study of possible correlation between the electrochemistry of canthin-6-one and the anti-proliferative activity against human cancer stem cells

This work presents an approach to study the performance of novel targets able to overcome cancer stem cell chemoresistance, based on the voltammetric data for microparticulate films of natural or synthetic alkaloids from the canthin-6-one series. A comparison of this voltammetric technique with conventional solution phase electrochemistry suggests the differences in the anti-proliferative activity of canthin-6-ones could be tentatively correlated to their different capacity to generate semiquinone radical anions. These data also match theoretical calculations.