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In this paper, a series of novel 1H-dibenzo[a,c]carbazole derivatives of dehydroabietic acid bearing different N-(piperazin-1-yl)alkyl side chains were designed, synthesised and evaluated for their in vitro anticancer activities against three human hepatocarcinoma cell lines (SMMC-7721, HepG2 and Hep3B). Among them, compound 10g exhibited the most potent activity against three cancer cell lines with IC50 values of 1.39 ± 0.13, 0.51 ± 0.09 and 0.73 ± 0.08 µM, respectively. In the kinase inhibition assay, compound 10g could significantly inhibit MEK1 kinase activity with IC50 of 0.11 ± 0.02 µM, which was confirmed by western blot analysis and molecular docking study. In addition, compound 10g could elevate the intracellular ROS levels, decrease mitochondrial membrane potential, destroy the cell membrane integrity, and finally lead to the oncosis and apoptosis of HepG2 cells. Therefore, compound 10g could be a potent MEK inhibitor and a promising anticancer agent worthy of further investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of new carbazole derivatives of ursolic acid were designed and synthesized in an attempt to develop potent antimicrobial or antitumor agents. Their structures were confirmed by using IR, HRMS and 1 H NMR analysis. All the synthesized compounds were evaluated for their antimicrobial activity against four bacterial and three fungal strains using serial dilution method. Compounds 3a , 3b , 4a , 4b and 5a – f exhibited significant antibacterial activity against at least one tested bacteria with MIC values of 3.9–15.6 μg/ml. In addition, the in vitro cytotoxicity of these compounds were also assayed against two human tumor cell lines (SMMC-7721 and HepG2) using MTT colorimetric method. From the results, compounds 5a – e and 5h displayed pronounced cytotoxic activity with IC 50 values below 10 μM. Specially, compound 5e was found to be the most potent compound with IC 50 values of 1.08 ± 0.22 and 1.26 ± 0.17 μM against SMMC-7721 and HepG2 cells, respectively, comparable to those of doxorubicin. In addition, compound 5e showed reduced cytotoxicity against noncancerous LO2 cells with IC 50 value of 5.75 ± 0.48 μM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A series of new N-substituted 1H-dibenzo[a,c]carbazole derivatives were synthesized from dehydroabietic acid, and their structures were characterized by IR, 1H NMR and HRMS spectral data. All compounds were evaluated for their antibacterial and antifungal activities against four bacteria (Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas fluorescens) and three fungi (Candida albicans, Candida tropicalis and Aspergillus niger) by serial dilution technique. Some of the synthesized compounds displayed pronounced antimicrobial activity against tested strains with low MIC values ranging from 0.9 to 15.6μg/ml. Among them, compounds 6j and 6r exhibited potent inhibitory activity comparable to reference drugs amikacin and ketoconazole. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]