Sphaerococcenol A Derivatives: Design, Synthesis, and Cytotoxicity.

Sphaerococcenol A is a cytotoxic bromoditerpene biosynthesized by the red alga . A series of its analogues (-) was designed and semi-synthesized using thiol-Michael additions and enone reduction, and the structures of these analogues were characterized by spectroscopic methods. Cytotoxic analyses (1-100 µM; 24 h) were accomplished on A549, DU-145, and MCF-7 cells. The six novel sphaerococcenol A analogues displayed an IC range between 14.31 and 70.11 µM on A549, DU-145, and MCF-7 malignant cells. Compound , resulting from the chemical addition of 4-methoxybenzenethiol, exhibited the smallest IC values on the A549 (18.70 µM) and DU-145 (15.82 µM) cell lines, and compound , resulting from the chemical addition of propanethiol, exhibited the smallest IC value (14.31 µM) on MCF-7 cells. The highest IC values were exhibited by compound , suggesting that the chemical addition of benzylthiol led to a loss of cytotoxic activity. The remaining chemical modifications were not able to potentiate the cytotoxicity of the original compounds. Regarding A549 cell viability, analogue exhibited a marked effect on mitochondrial function, which was accompanied by an increase in ROS levels, Caspase-3 activation, and DNA fragmentation and condensation. This study opens new avenues for research by exploring sphaerococcenol A as a scaffold for the synthesis of novel bioactive molecules.