Calixarbutin: A Novel Calixarene-based Potential Water-soluble Anti-tyrosinase Agent with High Anti-melanoma Activity

Since melanocytes are the origin of melanoma and some skin disorders such as melasma, they are important cells from the perspective of medicinal chemistry. Therefore, a medication that can simultaneously overcome these diseases will be a successful potential therapeutic agent. Arbutin with phenolic structure is a powerful natural anti-tyrosinase agent. Hence, the phenolic structure of this drug, prompted us to design its novel calix [4]arene-based cluster. Therefore, the present study reports the synthesis and in-vitro bio-activities of cyclic tetramer of arbutin in comparison to its simple drug unit as the reference medication. The in-vitro biological results showed amplified anti-tyrosinase (6-fold) and anti-melanoma (27-fold) activities, in addition to more aqueous solubility (8-fold) for this cluster in relation to arbutin. Therefore, compared to arbutin, more bioactive cluster can be considered as a novel water-soluble melanogenesis inhibitor with high anti-melanoma activity.