Chemotherapy is used as a primary approach in cancer treatment after routine surgery. However, chemo-resistance tends to occur when chemotherapy is used clinically, resulting in poor prognosis and recurrence. Currently, Chinese medicine may provide insight into the design of new therapies to overcome chemo-resistance. Furanodiene, as a heat-sensitive sesquiterpene, is isolated from the essential oil of Rhizoma Curcumae. Even though mounting evidence claiming that furanodiene possesses anti-cancer activities in various types of cancers, the underlying mechanisms against chemo-resistant cancer are not fully clear. Our study found that furanodiene could display anti-cancer effects by inhibiting cell viability, inducing cell cytotoxicity, and suppressing cell proliferation in doxorubicin-resistant MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Furthermore, furanodiene preferentially causes apoptosis by interfering with intrinsic/extrinsic-dependent and NF-κB-independent pathways in doxorubicin-resistant MCF-7 cells. These observations also prompt that furanodiene may be developed as a promising natural product for multidrug-resistant cancer therapy in the future.
Alkylation of phenol with cyclohexanol catalyzed by acidic ionic liquid has been investigated. The influences of reaction temperature, reaction time, reactant ratio (mol ratio of phenol to cyclohexanol), the amount and the recycle of ionic liquid on catalytic activity were studied. The conversion of phenol and the selectivity of paracyclohexylphenol were 75.5% and 61.6%, respectively, under optimum reaction conditions. The ionic liquid was utilized repeatedly over three times without remarkable loss of catalytic activity.
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