Syntheses of novel β-carboline derivatives and the activities against five tumor-cell lines.

A series of β-carbolines possessing the aryl group at C-1 position has been synthesized from tryptophan. The newly synthesized compounds were screened for their in vitro anticancer activity against various human cancer cell lines by MTT assay. Some of them exhibited anticancer activity with IC50 values lower than 10μM outdistanced the cisplatin level. Structure-activity relationship reveals that the alcohol substituents at C-3 position played an important role in inhibition activity.