Simple and efficient synthesis of novel glycosyl thiourea derivatives as potential antitumor agents

The practical synthesis of pseudonucleosides incorporating thiourea derivative by coupling of monosaccharides (D-galactose, D-glucose and D-xylose) per-O-acetylated glycosyl isothiocyanates and different heterocyclic hydrazide derivatives is reported. The method involves the preparation of per-O-acetylated glycosyl isothiocyanates from per-O-acetylated sugars (two-step synthesis), which couple with heterocyclic hydrazides from amines to give thiourea-linked pseudonucleosides. All newly synthesized pseudonucleosides were assayed against human lung cancer-cell lines (PG) and human liver cancer-cell lines (BEL-7402) in vitro. The 2-(4-methoxybenzamide)-benzoimidazole-1-yl-acetyl pseudonucleosides showed moderate inhibition against these two cancer-cell lines with EC50 from 22.8 to 76.4 mu M and from 54.9 to 82.4 mu M, respectively. And the other compounds did not demonstrate any significant cytotoxicity even at concentrations up to 200 mu M. (C) 2008 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.