Design, synthesis, and antitumor activity of desmosdumotin C analogues

Desmosdumotin C (Des C), a natural product isolated from the roots of Desmos dumosus, has shown good antitumor activity. A three dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) study using the comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA) method was performed on 32 Des C analogues. Based on the QSAR, 18 new Des C analogues were designed and synthesized. An efficient three-step synthetic strategy toward Des C and its analogues was developed from commercial available 2, 4, 6-trihydroxyacetophenone. All synthesized compounds were evaluated against a panel of human cancer cell lines and showed ED50 values ranging from 1.1 to 25.1 µΜ.