Cu (I) catalyzed alkyne-azide 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition (CuAAC): Synthesis of 17α-[1-(substituted phenyl)-1,2,3-triazol-4-yl]-19-nortestosterone-17β-yl acetates targeting progestational and antipro-liferative activities

The progestational potency and selectivity of synthetic steroidal agonists can be enhanced by even larger chemical moieties at 17 alpha-position of the steroid backbones. Hereby a series 5a-c and 6a-c of novel 17 alpha-[1-substituted phenyl)-1,2,3-triazol-4-yl]-19-nortestosterone-17 beta-yl acetates were designed and synthesized using click chemistry approach searching progestogenic derivatives with potential anticancer activity. Compounds 5a,b and 6a,c have affected to different extents the three histopatho-logical parameters considered for evaluation of their progestational activity. The compounds 5a,b and 6a,c showed modifications in rat uterus at 35.7-34.8 nM levels with privileged endometrial thickening effect and least change of uterine weight relative to NEA at 52.9 nM level. Up to 40 mg/kg dose compounds 5b and 6c were non-toxic. Molecular docking of the ligands in PR showed in the majority of cases a conformational fitting into the active site different from that of the reference steroid NEA. Compound 6b revealed about 46.4% growth inhibition of CNS cancer SNB-75 cell line, 56% growth inhibition of renal cancer A498 cell line and 56.7% growth inhibition of prostate cancer PC-3 cell line which was mediated by cell cycle arrest. Drugability of the screened compounds showed tolerated results after being challenged to diverse physicochemical parameters. (C) 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.