Synthesis and antitumor evaluation of 2,3-diarylbenzofuran derivatives on HeLa cells

2,2-Dihydroxyarylethanones, readily prepared from the commercially available aromatic ethyl ketones, were reacted with resorcinol, 3-methoxyphenol or 2-methoxyphenol in multi steps one-pot manner promoted by trifluoroacetic acid to furnish the 2,3-diarylbenzofuran derivatives in 22-95% yield. Sixteen targeted compounds were synthesized and characterized by ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR and HRMS. MTT assay indicated that most compounds possessed effectively inhibitory activities against the proliferation of HeLa cell. Among them, 4f had the highest inhibitory activities, with the IC₅₀ being 13.40±2.04µmol/L. Cell cycle analysis, Annexin V-FITC/propidium iodide dual staining assay and western blotting analysis revealed that 4f inhibited the proliferation of Hela cell through apoptosis induction in a dose-dependent manner via obviously up-regulated the levels of Bak and Bim, while striking down-regulated the level of Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL protein.