Design, total synthesis, and evaluation of novel open-chain epothilone analogues.

[structure: see text] The design, total synthesis, and biological evaluation of two open-chain analogues of epothilone incorporating the critical C1-C8 fragment and the aromatic side chain held together by a small molecular scaffold have been achieved. Biological evaluation revealed that further restraint between the flexible C1-C8 region and the molecular scaffold may be necessary for potent inhibition of cell proliferation.