Synthesis, chiral resolution, and determination of novel furan lignan derivatives with potent anti-tumor activity.

A kind of racemic furan lignans were synthesized via a novel route, and two optical isomers were obtained through a selective hydrolization. The absolute configurations were determined by circular dichroism spectroscopy after separated through a preparative column. The different activities of isomers and the racemates were evaluated on QGY-7701 and HeLa cell lines, and compound 2c showed the best activity on QGY-7701 and HeLa cell lines with IC(50) 12 microM and 13 microM, respectively.