Novel dihydropyridine thioglycosides and their corresponding dehydrogenated forms as potent anti-hepatocellular carcinoma agents.

A novel method for preparation of a new class of dihydropyridine thioglycosides and their corresponding dehydrogenated forms, via reaction of piperidinium salts of dihydropyridinethiones with 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-α-D-gluco- and galactopyranosyl bromides has been studied. The evaluation of antiproliferative activity against HepG-2 cell lines (liver carcinoma cell lines) of the dihydropyridine thioglycosides and pyridine thioglycosides revealed that many of the thioglycosides have interesting antitumor activities specifically 5c, 5g, 5l, 5o, 5p, 7a, 7i, 7p, 8b, 8f, 8s, and 8v.