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Enantioselective semisynthesis of novel cephalotaxine esters with potent antineoplastic activities against leukemia
Yujian Yang1, Qiuchun Yu2, Lean Hu1
1Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Small Molecule Drug Discovery and Synthesis, Department of Chemistry, and Medi-X Pingshan, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, 518000, China.
Abstract:
Cephalotaxine-type alkaloids (CTAs), represented by homoharringtonine (HHT, 1), display potent efficacy against different types of leukemia cells. In this study, a method for hydrogenation of β-substituted itaconic acid monoesters with chiral Ru[DTBM-SegPhos](OAc)2 was developed. This metal-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation enabled the convenient semisynthesis of novel cephalotaxine derivatives with chiral 2'-substituted-succinic acid 4-mono-methyl esters as side chains. The preliminary structure-activity relationship (SAR) of the compounds' antineoplastic activities was studied. Eventually, we discovered compound 10b with potent antineoplastic activities against leukemia and broadly anticancer activities against a panel of cancer cells. Our study provided a highly enantioselective process enabling the semisynthesis of cephalotaxine derivatives, which are interesting for further study on a scientific basis.
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