Synthesis of ring-C modified oleanolic acid derivatives and their cytotoxic evaluation

Abstract Ring-C of oleanolic acid was chemically modified by treating with NBS under a variety of experimental conditions. The structures of the synthesized compounds were established by spectral analysis ( 1 H & 13 C NMR and Mass). All the compounds were evaluated against a panel of five human cancer cell lines by using MTT assay. Among the tested compounds, 2 and 7 showed significant activity against breast cancer cell line, MCF-7. Most significantly, compound 7 showed several folds enhanced activity against MCF-7 cancer cell lines (IC 50 : 2.96 μM) than that of the parent ( 1 ) and the intermediate compound ( 6 ). Flow cytometric analysis revealed that these compounds arrested the cell cycle in G0/G1 phase and induced mitochondrial mediated apoptosis.