Synthesis and cytotoxic evaluation of usnic acid benzylidene derivatives as potential anticancer agents
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Updated: Jan 22, 2026

Anticancer Metal Complexes: Synthesis and Cytotoxicity Evaluation by the MTT Assay
Published on: November 10, 2013
Van-Kieu Nguyen1, Jirapast Sichaem2, Huu-Hung Nguyen3
1Center of Excellence in Natural Products Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
Abstract:
A series of usnic acid benzylidene derivatives (groups I-V) were designed, synthesized and evaluated for their anticancer activity in the search for potentially new anticancer agents. Compounds 1a, 5b, 2b, 2e and 2f exhibited the most potent cytotoxcity against K562 cell line with IC50 values of 10.0 ± 3.6, 5.6 ± 0.4, 8.8 ± 1.0, 4.5 ± 0.1 and 8.4 ± 0.4 μM, respectively. It is noteworthy that compound 2e displayed potent cytotoxicity against K562 cells without any cytotoxic effect on HEK293 normal cell line.
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