Synthesis of novel 2, 5-dihydrofuran derivatives and evaluation of their anticancer activity.

According to metal-catalyzed [3 + 2] cycloaddition reaction, we synthesized a series of novel 2, 5-dihydrofuran derivatives and evaluated their in vitro anti-cancer activities via MTT method. The bioassay showed that the majority of the resultant compounds exerted anti-tumor effect against four human cancer cell lines to various extents, which supported the rationale of the design. Compounds 9e and 10g showed the highest activity with broad anti-cancer spectrum, which were good candidates for further evaluation.