Synthesis and biological activity of polyalthenol and pentacyclindole analogues.

A series of indole sesquiterpenes analogues of polyalthenol and pentacyclindole have been synthesized starting from ent-halimic acid in order to test their biological activity. These analogues include diverse oxidation levels at the sesquiterpenyl moiety and different functionalization on the indole ring. All synthetic derivatives were tested against a representative panel of Gram positive and Gram negative bacterial strains, and the human solid tumour cell lines A549 (non-small cell lung), HBL-100 (breast), HeLa (cervix), SW1573 (non-small cell lung), T-47D (breast) and WiDr (colon). Overall, the compounds presented activity against the cancer cell lines. The resulting lead, displaying a polyalthenol scaffold, showed GI50 values in the range 1.2-5.7 μM against all cell lines tested.