Synthesis, cytotoxicity and pro-apoptosis activity of isoquinoline quinones

Mansouramycins are newly isolated cytotoxic isoquinoline quinones from marine organism. To find novel anticancer agents, eighteen isoquinoline quinones 7a–7r as Mansouramycins analogs were designed and synthesized. Most of these compounds displayed moderate cytotoxicities against MCF-7, A549, HCT116, and HepG2 cancer cell lines at micromolar concentration. Compound 7a was found to has the ability of inducing HepG2 cells apoptosis by Hoechst33342...