Synthesis and antitumor activity of feruloyl and caffeoyl derivatives

We developed two efficient protocols for the synthesis of feruloyl and caffeoyl derivatives from commercial vanillin and veratraldehyde. Pharmacological activities were assessed against a panel of human cancer cell lines in vitro. Most synthesized compounds demonstrated attractive cytotoxicity. Several new compounds demonstrated significant antiproliferative and cytotoxic activities against HeLa and Bewo tumor cell lines. In particular, 5-nitro caffeic adamantyl ester showed broad spectrum of tumor inhibition in 10 cell lines, and reduced tumor weight by 36.7% in vivo when administered at a dose of 40 mg kg−1.