Potent Cytotoxicity of Novel L-Shaped Ortho-Quinone Analogs through Inducing Apoptosis

Twenty-seven L-shaped ortho-quinone analogs were designed and synthesized using a one pot double-radical synthetic strategy followed by removing methyl at C-3 of the furan ring and introducing a diverse side chain at C-2 of the furan ring. The synthetic derivatives were investigated for their cytotoxicity activities against human leukemia cells K562, prostate cancer cells PC3, and melanoma cells WM9. Compounds , , , , , , , , , , , , , and exhibited a better broad-spectrum cytotoxicity on three cancer cells. and selectively displayed potent inhibitory activities on leukemia cells K562 and prostate cancer cells PC3, respectively. Further studies indicated that , , , , and could significantly induce the apoptosis of PC3 cells. and significantly induced apoptosis of K562 cells. , , and induced significant apoptosis of WM9 cells. The structure-activity relationships evaluation showed that removing methyl at C-3 of the furan ring and introducing diverse side chains at C-2 of the furan ring is an effective strategy for improving the anticancer activity of L-shaped ortho-quinone analogs.