Synthesis and biological activity of (+)-hedychilactone A and its analogs from (+)-sclareolide

Natural product hedychilactone A (3) has been synthesized from (+)-sclareolide by an efficient route. Two of the synthetic intermediates, 10 and 12, have shown strong growth inhibition effects against five cancer cell lines, human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) and nitric oxide (NO) production. In particular, compound 15 showed selective inhibition activity against HUVEC growth without any cytotoxicity among tested cancer cell lines. (C) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.