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Free keywords:
biological activity, natural products, neurotrophic sesquiterpenes synthesis
Abstract:
Neurotrophic natural products hold potential as privileged structures
for the development of therapeutic agents against neurodegeneration.
However, only a few studies have been conducted to investigate a common
pharmacophoric motif and structure-activity relationships (SARs). Here,
an investigation of structurally more simple analogues of neurotrophic
sesquiterpenes of the illicium family is presented. A concise synthetic
route enables preparation of the carbon framework of (+/-)-MerrilactoneA
and (+/-)-Anislactone A/B on a gram scale. This has allowed access to a
series of structural analogues by modification of the core structure,
including variation of oxidation levels and alteration of functional
groups. In total, 15 derivatives of the natural products have been
synthesized and tested for their neurite outgrowth activities. Our
studies indicate that the promising biological activity can be retained
by structurally simpler natural product analogues, which are accessible
by a straightforward synthetic route.
