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Abstract: Two series of steroidal dienamides 4a–q and 5a–f were designed, synthesized and evaluated for cytotoxic activities against five human cancer cell lines (MGC-803, EC109, PC-3, SMMC-7721 and MCF-7). The protocol developed efficiently achieved the construction of carbon–carbon double bond and selective conversion of nitrile group into carboxamide in one-pot procedure. Besides, compounds 4a–q and 5a–f showed moderate to excellent cytotoxic activities with the IC50 values ranging from 0.1 to 40 μM and most of them were more potent than 5-fluorouracil. Particularly, four compounds 4d, 4e, 4q and 5a showed excellent selectivity against MGC-803 with the IC50 values less than 1 μM. Flow cytometry analysis demonstrated that compound 4c caused the cellular early apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in G2/M phase in a concentration-independent manner. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A simple and practical method for synthesis of the D-ring modified steroidal dienamides (4a–k) from the steroidal α,α-dicyanoalkene 3 and aldehydes via vinylogous aldol reaction was first reported. By using NaOAc as a base, the desired products were obtained in moderate to good yields in ethanol under mild conditions. All the synthesized steroidal dienamides are new and are currently being evaluated for their biological activities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]