Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have a crucial role in cell signaling and cellular functions. Mounting evidences suggest that abnormal increase of ROS is often observed in cancer cells and that this biochemical feature can be exploited for selective killing of the malignant cells. A naturally occurring compound phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC) has been shown to have promising anticancer activity by modulating intracellular ROS. Here we report a novel synthetic analog of PEITC with superior in vitro and in vivo antitumor effects. Mechanistic study showed that LBL21 induced a rapid depletion of intracellular glutathione (GSH), leading to abnormal ROS accumulation and mitochondrial dysfunction, evident by a decrease in mitochondrial respiration and transmembrane potential. Importantly, LBL21 exhibited the ability to abrogate stem cell-like cancer side population (SP) cells in non-small cell lung cancer A549 cells associated with a downregulation of stem cell markers including OCT4, ABCG2, SOX2 and CD133. Functionally, LBL21 inhibited the ability of cancer cells to form colonies in vitro and develop tumor in vivo. The therapeutic efficacy of LBL21 was further demonstrated in mice bearing A549 lung cancer xenografts. Our study suggests that the novel ROS-modulating agent LBL21 has promising anticancer activity with an advantage of elimination of stem-like cancer cells. This compound merits further study to evaluate its potential for use in cancer treatment.

Carbazoles have attracted high interest among synthetic chemists due to their unique structural features and potential pharmacological activities. Compared to linear aryliodoniums, cyclic diphenyleneiodoniums are more inert and have not attracted much attention to their application as building blocks. Employing our synthetic strategy, diversified carbazoles can be efficiently obtained from a single cyclic diphenyleneiodonium under mild conditions. The reactions catalyzed by copper(II) acetate have provided a variety of carbazoles in modest to good yields with a broad range of amines including anilines, aliphatic amines and sulfonamides. Moreover, one of the obtained carbazoles has displayed an outstanding ability to protect HT‐22 neuronal cells from the damage induced by neurotoxins glutamate and homocysteic acid.magnified image

Linear iodoniums are widely used as arylating reagents. However, cyclic diaryl idodoniums are ignored despite their potential to initiate dual arylations, atom and step economically. In our current work, a three-component cascade reaction of cyclic diaryliodoniums, sodium azide, and alkynes has been successfully achieved under mild conditions, catalyzed by cheap copper species. The regioselectivity associated with unsymmetrical iodoniums was enhanced by installing two methyls ortho and para to the I(III) center. The reaction enables a rapid access to a variety of complex molecules, triazolophenanthridine derivatives.

Palladium(II)-catalyzed dual C-H functionalization of indoles with cyclic diaryliodoniums was successfully achieved, providing a concise method to synthesize dibenzocarbazoles. In a single operation, two C-C bonds and one ring were formed. The reaction was ligand free and tolerated air and moisture conditions.

Linear diaryliodonium salts are widely used as arylating reagents for C-C and C-X bond formation. Meanwhile, synthetic applications of cyclic iodoniums are relatively rare although they offer the opportunity to set up reaction cascades. We demonstrate an atom and step economical three-component reaction involving cyclic diphenyleneiodoniums, alkynes, and boronic acids, resulting in the construction of methylidenefluorenes in a single operation. Our route enables facile access to both symmetrical and unsymmetrical methylidenefluorene derivatives, compounds that have attracted interest due to their optical properties.

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Using an easily prepared triethylammonium N‐benzyldithiocarbamate salt as a sulfur source, a dual C−S functionalization of cyclic diaryliodoniums to form tricyclic thioheterocycles is realized. Our method uses the readily available copper sulfate to accelerate the chemical transformation under mild conditions. A broad range of cyclic diaryliodoniums with a ring size from 5‐ to 7‐membered can be employed to gain a quick access to tricyclic thioheterocycles including dibenzothiophenes, thioxanthenes, and phenoxathiines.magnified image

A diverse set of novel heterocyclic iodoniums was synthesized for the first time. The reactions of these unique iodoniums with environmentally benign water as the oxygen source provided structurally complex oxygen-incorporated heteropolycycles that are essential motifs in natural products and biologically active compounds. The transformation only required low-cost copper acetate. Further derivatization of the obtained polycycles expanded the structural diversity, which is important in the building of chemical libraries for drug discovery.