Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of a-Tubulin-Binding Pironetin Analogues with Enhanced Lipophilicity

Abstract

The preparation of four new lipophilic analogues of the natural pyrone pironetin is described. The nine-carbon side chain of the latter has been replaced in one analogue by a 4-phenylbutyl chain and in the other three analogues by long aliphatic chains of thirteen and sixteen carbons, all of them bearing two stereogenic centers. Their cytotoxic activity and their interactions with tubulin have been investigated. It has been found that all four are cytotoxic towards two either sensitive or resistant tumoral cell lines with similar IC50 values in each case, thus indicating that, like the parent natural compound, they also display a covalent mechanism of action. However, one of them operates in all likelihood through a mechanism very similar to pironetin whereas the other three seem to be cytotoxic via a different mechanism.