Synthesis of novel 4'-acylamino modified 21E-benzylidene steroidal derivatives and their cytotoxic activities.

A series of 4'-acylamino modified Δ-pregnadien-21E-benzylidene-3,20-dione derivatives (6a-v) was synthesized from the commercially available progesterone (1). These title compounds were evaluated for their toxicity against brine shrimp (Artemia salina) and cytotoxic activities against two human cancer cell lines (HeLa and MCF-7). The results revealed that compound 6f exhibited promising in vitro cytotoxic activity to the two cancer cell lines and the nature of acylamino functional group in the benzylidene moiety had a significant influence on cytotoxicity.

Synthesis and antiproliferative activity of D-ring substituted steroidal benzamidothiazoles.

Using progesterone as the starting material, we synthesized a series of steroidal derivatives possessing a D-ring substituted benzamidothiazole. All of the final structures were reported and identified by NMR and HRMS spectrometry for the first time. The antiproliferative activity of the synthesized compounds against PC-3 (human prostate cancer cell line) and SKOV-3 (ovarian cancer cells) were investigated.

Synthesis and cytotoxic activity of some novel steroidal C-17 pyrazolinyl derivatives.

Fourteen novel steroidal C-17 pyrazolinyl derivatives 9a-g and 10a-g were synthesized from commercially available progesterone and tested for their cytotoxic activity against brine shrimp (Artemia salina) and three human cancer cell lines (NCI-H460, HeLa, and HepG2). Some of these synthetic compounds exhibited significant cytotoxic activity, and treatment of HeLa cells with compound 10b resulted in the cell population arrest in the S phase. A structure-activity relationship was discussed.

Synthesis and cytotoxicity of some novel 21E-benzylidene steroidal derivatives.

A series of novel derivatives of 21E-benzylidene-pregn-1,4-diene-3,20-dione 7a-g and 21E-benzylidene-4-chloro-pregn-1,4-diene-3,20-dione 8a-g was synthesized from the commercially available progesterone. These title compounds were evaluated for their cytotoxic activity against brine shrimp (Artemia salina) and murine Lewis lung carcinoma cells (LLC). It was found that compounds 7a-g exhibited stronger activities than 8a-g against the brine shrimps, and some of the tested compounds possessed weak inhibition of LLC cells.