Neolignans are a class of natural products with a wide range of biological effects. These substances are of great synthetic and biological interest, especially in searching for novel anticancer agents. In this paper, we report the synthesis of a new subclass of 8,4’-oxyneolignan analogues (β-ketoethers and β-ketoesters) and their cell viability assay on twenty four different cancer cells, among leukemias and carcinomas. Three compounds inhibited the growth of most human cancer cells. 2-Oxo-2-phenylethyl(2E)-3-[4-(2-oxo-2-phenylethoxy) phenyl]prop-2-enoate showed an antiproliferative activity superior to doxorubicin for U-87, U-138 MG and H1299 cell types and (E)-2-oxo-2-phenylethyl 3-(3-methoxy-4-(2-oxo-2-phenylethoxy)phenyl)acrylate was found to be very selective, demonstrating a growth inhibition of 92.0% against KG-1 cells. Furthermore, 1-oxo-1-phenylpropan-2-yl cinnamate exhibited significant inhibition activity in a range of 52.2 to 91.2% against twelve kinds of leukemia cell lines, revealing excellent results and very comparable to the reference drug.

New derivatives of synthetic 5,5-diphenylhydantoin (phenytoin) were prepared by N-alkylation with 1,3-dibromopropane. Subsequent treatment with sodium azide led to the respective azide. Reaction of the azide with phenylacetylene and 2-hydroxy-3-butyne and oxidation of the resulting alcohol with MnO2 resulted in three triazolic compounds that were evaluated in vitro for their antiviral activity against human metapneumovirus (HMPV). 5,5-Diphenyl-3-[3-(4-phenyl-1H-1,2,3-triazol-1-yl)propyl]imidazolidine-2,4-dione was the most active of the three compounds tested, with selectivity index of 129.87, even higher than ribavirin, the control substance. The three compounds showed activity in the early stages of viral replication presenting virucidal activity and binding to cellular receptors, preventing the adsorption of viral particles. These compounds showed higher activity in both experiments, inhibiting 98.3% of infection as virucidal and 98.9% when interacting with cellular receptors. Furthermore, they showed 73.8% of activity during the penetration of HMPV particles into cells. The derivative 3-{3-[4-(1-hydroxyethyl)-1H-1,2,3-triazol-1-yl]propyl}-5,5-diphenylimidazolidine-2,4-dione presented a mild anti-HMPV activity, with selectivity index of 2.74. 3-[3-(4-acetyl-1H-1,2,3-triazol-1-yl)propyl]-5,5-diphenylimidazolidine-2,4-dione inhibited less than 50% of HMPV replication.