Structure and Biological Activity of Furocoumarins

Synthesis of novel benzofurocoumarin analogues and their anti-proliferative effect on human cancer cell lines

“…Psoralens are natural products (linear furocoumarins) present in several plant families that are extremely toxic to a wide variety of prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. They may react directly with pyrimidine nucleotides forming mono-and di-adducts in DNA or even DNA interstrand cross-links [1,2]. Another cause of their toxicity derives from the ability of UV-A-photoactivated furocoumarins to react with ground state oxygen generating toxic oxyradicals capable of inactivating proteins within cells [3].…”

“…The inactivation mechanism of P450 by psoralens is not completely understood but is thought to occur in three different ways: a) binding of the inhibitor to the apoprotein, b) binding of the inhibitor to the heme, and c) reaction of the inhibitor with the heme inducing fragmentation. Once these processes have been triggered programmed cell death can occur unless repaired by cellular mechanisms [2,5].…”

Quantitative Insights into Energy Contribution of Weak Intermolecular Interactions in Angular Furanocoumarin Derivatives

“…The molecular pairs (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8) extracted from the crystal packing which provide significant contribution towards the stabilization of the crystal are shown in Figure 8. The characteristic packing feature in this molecule consist of molecular stacking along with weak C-H…O hydrogen bonds.…”

“…Among furanocoumarin derivatives, psoralen and xanthotoxin are most abundant linear furanocoumarin where as the angular type is mostly represented by angelicin and sphondin. Furanocoumarin derivatives are of interest because of their high photobiological activity [1][2][3] . Both linear and angular furanocoumarins exhibit interesting pharmacological activity, but angular structure reduces the undesirable side effects 4 such as genotoxicity 5 and skin cancer 6 as observed in case of linear furanocoumarin.…”

Metal-Catalyzed Routes for the Synthesis of Furocoumarins and Coumestans

“…The photoexcited furocoumarins react with biomolecules, especially with pyrimidine bases in microorganism's DNA, through [2 + 2] cycloaddition processes to form mono-and diadducts. Many furocoumarins and dihydrofurocoumarins are reported to have other important biological activities such as HIV inhibition, anticancer, antifungal, anti-influenza, or anti-inflammatory, among others [13,15,[18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. Many furocoumarins and dihydrofurocoumarins are reported to have other important biological activities such as HIV inhibition, anticancer, antifungal, anti-influenza, or anti-inflammatory, among others [13,15,[18][19][20][21][22][23][24].…”