Scope of the Heck Reaction in the Synthesis of a New Family of Anthracene Diacrylamide G-Quadruplex Ligands

Abstract

The use of the Heck reaction in the synthesis of anthracene-9-monoacrylamide and anthracen-9,10-bisacrylamides as potential G-quadruplex ligands and preliminary biological testing are reported.

Keywords:

• Acrylamide
• anthracene
• G-quadruplex
• Heck

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors thank Dr. J.-M. Peron for excellent NMR technical support and Judith Peters at the University of Surrey for elemental analysis work. Thanks go to Dr Alex Sinclair, Dr. Francesca Arrigoni, and Professor Stephen Neidle for useful conversations. The authors also acknowledge support from the School of Pharmacy and Chemistry at Kingston University.

Notes

^a SM, starting anthracene.

^b Ratio of acrylamide/SM.

^c Dibenzoquinone was isolated as the sole product.

^d The yield is given as the combined yield of products.