Construction of C-glycosides of heterocycles containing the pyrimidin-2-amine or the 1H-pyrazolo[3,4-b]pyridine moiety and their biological evaluation for anticancer activities

A series of novel C-glycosides of heterocyclic derivatives containing a pyrimidin-2-amine or a 1H-pyrazolo[3,4-b]pyridine moiety were synthesized using condensation reactions of the substituted puerarin with guanidine or 3-amino-5-hydroxypyrazole in methyl alcohol. Their chemical structures were characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance, and high-resolution mass spectrometry. In addition, their biological activity has been demonstrated by in vitro evaluation against the human leukemia cells K562 and human prostate cancer cells PC-3 by MTT-based assays, using the commercially available standard drug of cis-platin as a positive control. The results also demonstrated that most of the compounds showed considerable cytotoxicity to these two cell lines of K562 and PC-3, and indicated that novel C-glycosides of heterocyclic derivatives may be potential leads for further biological screenings and may generate drug-like molecules.