Organocatalytic cascade reaction for the asymmetric synthesis of novel chroman-fused spirooxindoles that potently inhibit cancer cell proliferation.

The enantioselective preparation of pharmacologically interesting chroman-fused spirooxindole derivatives is described based on an organocatalytic multicomponent cascade reaction. The compounds synthesized using this method potently inhibited the proliferation of various cancer cell lines. The most potent compound (7e) induced caspase-independent apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in MCF-7 breast cancer cells by interfering with the p53-MDM2 interaction and downstream pathways.