Anthraquinones biological activities

Kanokmedhakul K, Kanokmedhakul S, Phatchana R. Biological activity of anthraquinones and triterpenoids from Prismatomeris fragrans. J Ethnopharmacol 2005 100 284-288. 

An annelation reaction of a,p-unsaturated carbonyl compounds with cyanophtfaalides (34) can be used for the construction of naphthoquinone and anthraquinone systems in biologically active natural... 

From the viewpoint of organic synthesis, nature provides us with a number of target molecules, which have novel structures and a variety of biological activities. As already shown in Section II.A, electrochemical oxidation of phenols has been applied successfully to natural products synthesis. Hypervalent (diacyloxyiodo)benzenes have also been proved to be effective for natural products synthesis. Generally, oxidation of o- and p-methoxyphenols in MeOH provides the corresponding o- and p-quinone monoketals, respectively. They are utilized as promising synthons for natural products and related bioactive compounds, as demonstrated by Swenton . Recently, these quinone monoketals have been utilized for syntheses of terpenoids, neolignans, anthraquinones, alkaloids and related compounds. 

Phthalides are valuable synthons for obtaining several biologically active compounds and natural products. Naphthols, anthraquinones and anthraquinone antibiotics, isoquinolones, phthalide isoquinolines, indolizidine and quinolizidine alkaloids, and berbine alkaloids have been synthesised with phthalides as the starting compounds. Some of the syntheses, which have interesting chemistry, are described below. The required phthalides, in some cases, have been synthesised through aromatic lithiation reactions, while in others by more conventional methods. 

Many of the more recent applications of intramolecular Friedel-Crafts acylation reactions have involved the synthesis of biologically active tetracycline derivatives. In the synthesis of aclacinomycin- the acid shown in equation (42) was cyclized efficiently to the anthrone using trifluoroacetic anhydride in dichloromethane and then converted immediately into the anthraquinone shown. 

Ismail, N.H. Chemistry and biological activity of anthraquinones from Morinda Elliptica. 

Contents R. A. Hill Naturally Occurring Isocoumarins. — R. Wijnsma and R. Verpoorte Anthraquinones in the Rubiaceae. — H. Chr. Krebs Recent Developments in the Field of Marine Natural Products with Emphasis on Biologically Active Compounds. 

Not all of the above proposed structural requirements have been probed experimentally. However, Sartorelli and coworkers at Yale have elegantly shown that a number of benzoquinones, naphthoquinones, and anthraquinones, meeting the general structure do express antineoplastic activity. Furthermore, the biological activity is indeed... 

The cytotoxic properties of anthraquinones result from their binding to cellular DNA [222,223]. The planarity of the dye allows an intercalation between the DNA base pairs while its redox properties may be used for the formation of reactive radical or radical-ion intermediates in biological systems. The chemical and biological activity exhibited by anthraquinone derivatives is significantly affected by the different substituents at the planar ring system [224-227]. Thus, side chains usually carry one or two positive charges, in order to establish an electrostatic interaction with the phosphate backbone... 

Synthesis and biological activity of S-fluoroalkyl-substituted cysteine-anthraquinone conjugates as potential positron emission tomography imaging agents for multidrug... 

Anke H, Kolthoum I, Laatsch H (1980) Metabolic Products of Microorganisms. 192. The Anthraquinones of the A.spergillus glaucus Group. II. Biological Activity. Arch Microbiol 126 231... 

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