Synthesis of Carborane-Containing Flavone and Flavonol Analogues as ER Agonists and COX Inhibitors

  • J Nat Prod. 2026 Apr 24;89(4):1189-1197. doi: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.5c01639.
Yirong Zhang  1 Chenyang Ma  1 Lili Wang  2 Yuan Li  1  3 Yuzhe Lin  1 Zekun Yang  1 Changxian Yuan  1 Guanxiang Hao  1 Linyuan Wang  1 Hongjing Li  1 Nan Sun  1 Zhangxiang Yin  1 Yong Nian  2 Sinan Wang  1
Affiliations
  • 1. School of Biomedical Engineering & State Key Laboratory of Advanced Medical Materials and Devices, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201210, China.
  • 2. School of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China.
  • 3. Shanghai Clinical Research and Trial Center, Shanghai 201210, China.
Abstract

Flavones and Flavonols are natural products and privileged structures with diverse bioactivities. Carboranes are considered a three-dimensional bioisosteric surrogate for phenyl rings. Herein, the terminal phenyl group of Flavones and Flavonols was replaced with carborane, and a series of carborane-containing flavone and flavonol analogues were successfully prepared. These compounds exhibited Estrogen receptor (ER) agonist activities. Compound 1 showed an EC50 of 0.87 ± 0.07 μM for ERα and a selectivity of 12.8-fold toward ERβ. These compounds also showed moderate inhibitory activities toward COX-1 and COX-2.

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