Synthesis and in vitro evaluation of (R), (S) and (R/S)-2-hexyne-1,4-diol, a natural product produced by fungus Clitocybe catinus, and related analogs as potential anticancer agents.

The search for natural products and related analogs as potential anticancer agents has seen a significant growth worldwide. Since small sized propargylic diols can be found in nature and chemically synthesized, their evaluation against cancer cells has been of great interest, being a topic of relevance to be investigated. For this purpose, a scalable approach aiming at the synthesis of several propargylic diols and their bioactivity against seven tumor cell lines were evaluated. Interestingly, when the compound 1a, a natural product produced by fungus Clitocybe catinus, was tested in its racemic mixture a more effective activity was observed if compared when enantiopure R-1a or S-1a were tested separately.