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In the search for novel compounds with both survivin inhibitory activity and fluorescence properties, 18 novel longifolene-derived tetralin pyrimidine compounds were designed using survivin as the target and synthesized from the sustainable natural resource longifolene.

Seventeen novel 2-(5-amino-1-(substituted sulfonyl)-1H-1,2,4-triazol-3-ylthio)-6- isopropyl-4,4-dimethyl-3,4-dihydronaphthalen-1(2H)-one compounds were synthesized from the abundant and naturally renewable longifolene and their structures were confirmed by FT-IR, NMR, and ESI-MS. The in vitro cytotoxicity of the synthesized compounds was evaluated by standard MTT assay against five human cancer cell lines, i.e., T-24, MCF-7, HepG2, A549, and HT-29. As a result, compounds 6d, 6g, and 6h exhibited better and more broad-spectrum anticancer activity against almost all the tested cancer cell lines than that of the positive control, 5-FU. Some intriguing structure&ndash, activity relationships were found and are discussed herein by theoretical calculation.

Novel representatives of the important group of biologically-active, dehydroabietic acid-bearing oxazolidinone moiety were synthesized to explore more efficacious and less toxic antitumor agents. Structures of all the newly target molecules were confirmed by IR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, and HR-MS. The inhibitory activities of these compounds against different human cancer cell lines (MGC-803, CNE-2, SK-OV-3, NCI-H460) and human normal liver cell line LO2 were evaluated and compared with the commercial anticancer drug cisplatin, using standard MTT (methyl thiazolytetrazolium) assay in vitro. The pharmacological screening results revealed that most of the hybrids showed significantly improved antiproliferative activities over dehydroabietic acid and that some displayed better inhibitory activities compared to cisplatin. In particular, compound 4j exhibited promising cytotoxicity with IC50 values ranging from 3.82 to 17.76 &micro, M against all the test cell lines and displayed very weak cytotoxicity (IC50 &gt, 100 &micro, M) on normal cells, showing good selectivity between normal and malignant cells. Furthermore, the action mechanism of the representative compound 4j was preliminarily investigated by Annexin-V/PI dual staining, Hoechst 33258 staining, which indicated that the compound can induce cell apoptosis in MGC-803 cells in a dose-dependent manner and arrest the cell cycle in G1 phase. Therefore, 4j may be further exploited as a novel pharmacophore model for the development of anticancer agents.

In search of new potent bioactive compounds, a series of dehydroabietic acid-based thiadiazole-phosphonate compounds were designed and synthesized by the Mannich-type reaction. All target compounds were characterized by Fourier transform infrared, 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), 13C NMR, 31P NMR, electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry, and UV-vis spectroscopy. The preliminary bioassay experiments showed that, at the concentration of 50 μg ml-1, some of the target compounds exhibited excellent antifungal activity against the five fungi tested, in which several compounds displayed even better antifungal effects than the commercial antifungal drug azoxystrobin, which served as the positive control in this study.

In order to develop novel chemotherapeutic agents with potent anticancer activities, a series of dehydroabietic acid (DHA) derivatives bearing an acylhydrazone moiety were designed and synthesized by the condensation between dehydroabietic acylhydrazide (3) and a variety of substituted arylaldehydes. The inhibitory activities of these compounds against CNE-2 (nasopharynx), HepG2 (liver), HeLa (epithelial cervical), and BEL-7402 (liver) human carcinoma cell lines were evaluated by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay in vitro. The screening results revealed that many of the compounds showed moderate to high levels of anticancer activities against the tested cancer cell lines and some displayed similar potent inhibitory activities to the commercial anticancer drug cisplatin, while they exhibited lower cytotoxicity against normal human liver cell (HL-7702). Particularly, compound 4w, N’-(3,5-difluorobenzylidene)-2-(dehydroabietyloxy)acetohydrazide, with an IC50 (50% inhibitory concentration) value of 2.21 μM against HeLa cell, was about 17-fold more active than that of the parent compound, and showed remarkable cytotoxicity with an IC50 value of 14.46 μM against BEL-7402 cell. These results provide an encouraging framework that could lead to the development of potent novel anticancer agents.

In an attempt to search for natural product-based insecticidal agents, a series of novel dehydroabietic acid derivatives bearing 1,3,4-thiadiazole moiety were designed and synthesized. Their structures were characterized by IR, MS, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, and elemental analysis. The insecticidal activities against cotton bollworm (Helicoverpa armigera), corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis Hubner), and diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella (L.)) were evaluated. The bioassay test showed that some of the target compounds exhibited excellent insecticidal activities at the concentration of 200 µg/ml; compound 3a had the best mortality rate of 90.0 and 80.0 % against H. armigera and O. nubilalis Hubner, respectively.

In the search of novel potent bioactive com-pounds, 18 novel camphoric acid-based acylhydrazone compounds 4a – 4r were designed and synthesized by the condensation reaction of N -amino camphorimide ( 3 ) with substituted benzaldehyde based on camphoric acid as the starting material. The target compounds were character-ized by means of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), 1 H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), 13 C NM R, electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), and elemental analysis. The preliminary bioassay showed that the follow-ing camphoric acid-based compounds exhibited excellent antifungal activity with an inhibition ratio of 95% against Physalospora piricola at the concentration of 50 μ g ml -1 : o -bromophenyl acylhydrazone ( 4f ), p -bromophen acyl - ylhydrazone ( 4g ), p -methoxyphenyl acylhydrazone ( 4m ), and p -hydroxyphenyl acylhydrazone ( 4p ). Keywords: achyydrl azone, antifungal activity, camphoric acid, synthesis *Corresponding author: Wen-Gui Duan, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangxi University, No. 100, Daxue Road, Nanning 530004, P.R. China, e-mail: wgduan@gxu.edu.cn Xian-Li Ma and Fang-Yao Li: SchooofChemistl yandr Chemical Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning, P.R. China ; and College of Pharmacy, Guilin Medical University, Guilin, P.R. China Jing-Ni Liao, Zhi-duo Lin, Gui-Shan Lin and Bo Cen: Schooof lChemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning, P.R. China Fu-Hou Lei: Guangxi Key Laboratory of Chemistry and Engineering of Forest Products, Nanning, P.R. China

The title compound, C28H34O3, is a new derivative of dehydroabietic acid, whose A and B rings exhibit a classical chair and half-chair conformation, respectively.

Two series of dehydroabietic acid C-ring derivatives, nitrogen-containing heterocycles (6a–9b) and C-12 substituted compounds (10a–11b), were synthesized and characterized by element analysis, IR, NMR and MS. The UV–vis absorption and fluorescence spectral characteristics of these compounds have been comparatively investigated, and their fluorescence quantum yields were further evaluated. Compared to dehydroabietic acid 1, the absorption and emission spectra of these compounds were bathochromically shifted due to the multiple aromatic rings with rigid planar structures or the larger conjugation of benzene moiety.

From Huajiao, the pericarps of Zanthoxylum bungeanum MAXIM. (Rutaceae), six unsaturated aliphatic acid amides (1-6) were isolated. Of these, three were identical with the known amides, hydroxy-α-, hydroxy-β- and hydroxy-γ-sanshools(1, 2 and 3). The other three are new compounds, and the structures were established as (2E, 4E, 8E, 10E, 12E)-2'-hydroxy-N-isobutyl-2, 4, 8, 10, 12-tetradecapentaenamide, and (2E, 4E, 8Z, 11Z)- and (2E, 4E, 8Z, 11E)-2'-hydroxy-N-isobutyl-2, 4, 8, 11-tetradecatetraenamide (4, 5 and 6, respectively).