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In recent years, researchers have often encountered the significance of the aberrant metabolism of tumor cells in the pathogenesis of malignant neoplasms. This phenomenon, known as the Warburg effect, provides a number of advantages in the survival of neoplastic cells, and its application is considered a potential strategy in the search for antitumor agents. With the aim of developing a promising platform for designing antitumor therapeutics, we synthesized a library of conjugates of 3,5-bis(arylidene)-4-piperidone and sesquiterpene lactones. To gain insight into the determinants of the biological activity of the prepared compounds, we showed that the conjugates of 3,5-bis(arylidene)-4-piperidone and sesquiterpene lactones, which are cytotoxic agents, demonstrate selective activity toward a number of tumor cell lines with glycolysis-inhibiting ability. Moreover, the results of molecular and in silico screening allowed us to identify these compounds as potential inhibitors of the pyruvate kinase M2 oncoprotein, which is the rate-determining enzyme of glycolysis. Thus, the results of our work indicate that the synthesized conjugates of 3,5-bis(arylidene)-4-piperidone and sesquiterpene lactones can be considered a promising platform for designing selective cytotoxic agents against the glycolysis process, which opens new possibilities for researchers involved in the search for antitumor therapeutics among compounds containing piperidone platforms.

Using triterpenoid betulin as an example, a convenient method for the synthesis of 5,6-dihydropyran derivatives containing a nor -triterpenoid fragment at position 4 was proposed. The method involves the reaction of lupane triterpenoids with paraformaldehyde in dioxane in the presence of sulfuric acid. Approaches to the synthesis of triterpene derivatives of 5,6-dihydropyran-2-one and penta-2,4-dienoic acid were developed based on the obtained 4-(3,28-diacetoxy-20,29,30-tri- nor -lupan-19-yl)-5,6-dihydropyran. Triterpene-substituted penta-2,4-dienoic acid heated with triphenylphosphonium triflate formed a quaternary phosphonium salt, which showed cytotoxicity against human cancer cells MCF-7 (breast cancer) and HCT116 (colon cancer) with IC 50 4–19 µmol L −1 , with its activity against these cell lines being superior to the activity of the comparison drug camptothecin.

Trimethylsilyl esters of P(III) acids were synthesized in high yields (89–94%) by the reaction of hydrophosphoryl compounds with hexamethyldisilazane at 20°C in the presence of ZnSO 4 and diethylamine. The reaction is complete in 4 h, it does not require specially prepared solvents or an inert atmosphere, and can be proposed as a new synthetically useful and easy-to-perform method for the synthesis of trimethylsilyl esters of P(III) acids.

A new phosphine oxide derivative, tris{2-[ N -(quinolin-8-yl)carbamoylmethoxy]-phenyl}phosphine oxide, was synthesized by the alkylation of tris(2-hydroxyphenyl)-phosphine oxide. The synthesized compound exhibits the properties of a tripodal polytopic O,N ligand with respect to lanthanum and terbium cations. The composition and structures of the ligand and its complexes were determined by elemental analysis, vibrational and multinuclear NMR spectroscopy ( 1 H, 13 C, 31 P), and X-ray diffraction.

The Mitsunobu reaction of tris(2-hydroxyphenyl)phosphine oxide with N -(3-hydroxypropyl)-4-nitro-1,8-naphthalimide resulted in alkylation of only two phenolic groups. The aromatic nitro groups of the synthesized product were replaced by the BuNH groups by the reaction with butylamine. The synthesized product exhibited fluorophore properties.

A simple method for modifying sesquiterpene lactones with 3,5-bis(arylidene)piperi-din-4-ones using the phase-transfer catalytic aza-Michael addition in the MeCN—K 2 CO 3 system was developed. Molecular docking revealed that the synthesized conjugates of isoalantolactone, alantolactone, and dehydrocostus lactone with various bis(arylidene)-piperidones directly interact with the DNA binding site of the p50 subunit of nuclear factor κB, which may be indicative of their ability to induce apoptotic death of the tumor cells due to activation of the death receptor expression and, thereby, to exhibit an antitumor effect.

Using the methodology of “click” chemistry, a singular method has been developed for the synthesis of unique conjugates based on sesquiterpene lactones: dehydrocostuslactone and alantolactone with polyalkoxybenzenes. To expand the structural range of the resulting conjugates, the length of the 1,2,3-triazole spacer was varied. For all synthesized compounds, the cytotoxic profile was determined on the cell lines of tumor origin (SH-SY5Y, HeLa, Hep-2, A549) and normal Hek 293 cells. It was found that the compounds based on alantolactone 7a–d with a long spacer and substances containing dehydrocostuslactone 10a–d with a short spacer have the greatest toxic effect. The decrease in cell survival under the action of these conjugates may be due to their ability to cause dissipation of the transmembrane potential of mitochondria and inhibit the process of glycolysis, leading to cell death. The obtained results confirm the assumption that the development of conjugates based on sesquiterpene lactones and polyalkoxybenzenes can be considered as a promising strategy for the search for potential antitumor agents.

Chemotherapy with anthracycline antibiotics is a common method of treating tumors of various etiologies. To create more highly effective cytostatics based on daunorubicin, we used the method of reductive amination using polyalkoxybenzaldehydes. The obtained derivatives of the anthracycline structure have much greater cytotoxicity compared to daunorubicin due to increased affinity for DNA, the ability to disrupt the cell cycle, and their inhibition of the glycolysis process, which is confirmed by data from extensive biological studies and the results of molecular modeling.