Elsevier, Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry, 13(11), p. 2761-2768
DOI: 10.1016/s0968-0896(03)00224-4
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Several cis and trans bis-steroidal 1,2,4,5-tetraoxanes possessing amide terminus were synthesised and evaluated as antimalarials and antiproliferatives. The compounds exhibited submicromolar antimalarial activity against Plasmodium falciparum D6 and W2 strains. The existence of HN-C(O) moiety was found necessary for pronounced antimalarial and antiproliferative activity. In antiproliferative screen, the trans tetraoxane 6 was found to exhibit a pronounced cytotoxicity on 14 cancer cell lines. In addition, tetraoxanes 11 and 12 exhibited significant cytotoxic activity too; microscopic examination of treated HeLa cells showed morphological appearance reminiscent for apoptosis (condensed and/or fragmented nuclei).