Synthesis and Cell Death Mechanism of a Militarin Derivative: Synthesis and Biology of a Militarin Derivative

Militarin, a novel anticancer substance from a caterpillar-grown traditional insect-flower (Cordyceps militaris), was previously isolated and characterized as an ether compound of 4-tert-octylphenol and a nonaethylene glycol. Among militarin analogs with different numbers of ethylene glycol substructure, the analog with four ethylene glycol substructure (M4EG) exhibited potent anticancer activities. A facile and scalable synthetic pathway of the M4EG was developed and the mechanism of cell death by the M4EG against lung adenocarcinoma epithelial cell line (A549) was explored. The results of this study showed that apoptosis of M4EG toward A549 cells is mediated by a caspase-dependent death-signaling pathway.