Syntheses and antiproliferative evaluation of oxyphenisatin derivatives.

Syntheses and structure-antiproliferative relationship for oxyphenisatin analogues are described. The cell proliferation data showed that the presence of substituents (especially F, Cl, Me, CF(3), and OMe) in the 6- and 7-position of oxyphenisatin markedly enhanced the potency in the MDA-468 cell line without affecting the MDA-231 cell line. The best compounds from this series showed low nanomolar antiproliferative activity towards the MDA-468 cell line and a 1000-fold selectivity over the MDA-231 cell line.

Investigation of a stereoselective co-mediated rearrangement reaction.

A stereocontrolled approach to alpha-alkyl beta-alkynyl cyclohexanones is reported through a Lewis acid mediated rearrangement reaction of enol ethers bearing an Co-alkyne moiety. The reaction proceeds with high levels of stereoselectivity in the presence of Ti- and B-Lewis acids to provide a range of alpha,beta-disubstituted cyclohexanones in high yield although the products are prone to epimerization at the alpha-position in the presence of the B-promoter system. The potential for an enantioselective variant of this process is outlined, and a rationale for the observed stereochemical trends and detailed structural analyses of the ketone products are described.