Synthesis and bioevaluation of some phenolic diarylpropanes as anti-cancer agents

A convenient synthesis of six phenolic diarylpropanes has been formulated. A CuBr2-catalyzed regioselective reaction was the key step for bromination of the arylpropanes. All the compounds showed good cytotoxicity to the human lung cancer A549 cell line. However, only one of these compounds induced apoptosis and a G1 cell cycle arrest by augmenting cellular ROS status. Introduction of bromo-substitution at the aryl groups increased the cytotoxicity significantly, but that was mainly due to necrosis.