Flavonoids are important bioactive dietary compounds, which are proved to be antioxidant responsive element (ARE) activators to defend against electrophilic toxicants and oxidative stress. The activators induce ARE gene transcription through Nrf2 factor, a major transcriptional stimulator of cytoprotective genes, relieved from a Keap1 complex. In this report, based on the structures of two flavonoids, scutellarin and baicalin, which are extracted from two common Chinese plants Dengzhanhua (Erigeron breviscapus (vant) Hand-Mazz) and Huangqin (Scutellaria baicalensis Georigi), respectively, we synthesized several 8-substituted and deglucuronidated analogues and identified the ARE activation effects of these flavonoids. We found that the Baicalin, deglucurnonidated Baicalin and diaza cyclopenta derivative were more active. Their dose-dependent upregulation activities of ARE and NQO1 and induction effects of Nrf2 were testified. The results presented that these three analogues had good upregulation effects on ARE, and they could be potentially utilized in relieving oxidative stress, upon further neuroprotective tests.

Fifteen PEG-scutellarin prodrugs were synthesized by modifying carboxyl and phenolic hydroxyl groups of scutellarin with mPEG of different molecular weight (400-3000). The water solubility of prodrugs increased remarkably and reached the maximum value of 783.88 mg/mL (scutellarin, 0.02 mg/mL). The anti-infarct effects of four PEG prodrugs with high water solubility were evaluated by Cerebral Ischemia/Reperfusion in the Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion (MCAO) model. The results showed that the prodrug 7e could significantly reduce the infarct area from 27.2% to 12.2% (33.3% for the control) and decrease the neurological deficit score from 2.77 to 1.32 (2.85 for the control). The half-life (18.62 min) of the prodrug 7e was significantly longer than that of scutellarin (3.03 min). (C) 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

A current study shows that sodium dichloroacetate (DCA) can induce cancer cell apoptosis and inhibit tumor growth, but its cytotoxic activity is low (IC50 > 1000 μM for A549). In this paper, a variety of DCA derivatives were synthesized, and their cytotoxic activities were evaluated. The result showed that the N-phenyl-2,2-dichloroacetamide analogues had satisfactory potencies. Among them, N-(3-iodophenyl)-2,2-dichloroacetamide (3e), an optimized lead compound, has an IC50 against A549 as low as 4.76 μM. Furthermore, it can induce cancer cell apoptosis and has a low toxicity in mice (LD50 = 1117 mg/kg).