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Updated: May 15, 2026

Functionalized Spirocyclic Heterocycle Synthesis and Cytotoxicity Assay
Published on: February 9, 2021
Synthesis and structure-activity relationships of harmine derivatives as potential antitumor agents
Rihui Cao1, Wenxi Fan, Liang Guo
1School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, 135 Xin Gang Xi Road, Guangzhou 510275, PR China. caorihui@mail.sysu.edu.cn
Abstract:
Harmine, a naturally occurring β-carboline alkaloid, showed good antitumor activities together with remarkable neurotoxic effects in animal models. In order to search for novel leading compounds endowed with better antitumor activities and less neurotoxicities, a series of harmine derivatives were designed and synthesized by modification of position-2, 7 and 9 of β-carboline nucleus, and their cytotoxic activities against human tumor cell lines were investigated. Acute toxicities and antitumor activities of the selected compounds in mice were also evaluated. Structure-activity relationships studies confirmed that (1) the 7-methoxy structural moiety was the pharmacophore responsible for the neurotoxic effects of this class of compounds; (2) the substituents in position-2 and 9 played a vital role in modulation of their antitumor activities.
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