Ring‐Contracted Artemisinin Derivatives as Novel CDK 4/6 Inhibitors: Synthesis and Anti‐Breast Cancer Evaluation

Abstract

The endoperoxide group of artemisinins is a universally accepted essential group for their anti‐cancer effects. In this work, a series of D‐ring‐contracted artemisinin derivatives were constructed by combining ring‐contracted artemisinin core with the fragments of functional heterocyclic molecules or classical CDK4/6 inhibitors to identify more efficacious breast cancer treatment agents. Twenty‐six novel hybridized molecules were synthesized and characterized by HRMS, IR, 1H NMR and 13C NMR data. In antiproliferative activities and kinase inhibitory effects assays, we found that the antiproliferative effects of B01 were close to positive controls Palbociclib, with GI50 values of 4.87±0.23 μM and 9.97±1.44 μM towards T47D cells and MDA‐MB‐436 cells respectively. In addition, the results showed that B01 were the most potent compounds against CDK6/cyclin D3 kinase, with IC50 values of 0.135±0.041 μM, its activity is about 1/3 of the positive control Palbociclib.