Regioselective synthesis of naphthoquinone/naphthoquinol–carbohydrate hybrids by [4 + 2] anionic annulations and studies on their cytotoxicity

Abstract

An efficient and regioselective synthetic route to naphthoquinone/naphthoquinol–carbohydrate hybrids has been developed. It is based upon anionic annulation of 3-nucleofugalphthalides with an acrylate appended sugar moiety. In each of the annulations studied, the arene–carbohydrate hybrids were obtained in good to excellent yields. The in vitro cytotoxic activity of the synthetic naphthoquinone/naphthonol–carbohydrate hybrids were evaluated against the human cervical cancer cell line (HeLa), and a few of them were found to exhibit potent anticancer activity against the cell line.