Cinnamic acid and its derivatives show a remarkable variety of biological activities and are often studied in search of the development of new and highly effective drugs. This work aims to synthesize, characterize and evaluate the cytotoxic activity of esters derived from cinnamic acid. Eighteen esters were synthesized through Steglich’s esterification, of which eleven were not reported in the literature. All compounds were fully characterized by Fourier transform infrared epectroscopy (FTIR), nuclear magnetic resonance (1H and 13C NMR) and high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) data. The cytotoxic activity of esters obtained was evaluated using four human tumor cell lines: SNB-19 (astrocytoma), HCT-116 (colon carcinoma, human), PC3 (prostate) and HL60 (promyelocytic leukemia) through the 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium (MTT) colorimetric assay. These studies showed that the compound 3-methoxybenzyl (E)-3-(4-methoxyphenyl)acrylate (12) is the most potent against HCT-116, PC3 and SBN-19 cells, with the lowest half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) value of 16.2 µM in the HCT-116 strain. The derivatives were obtained in good yields (76.6-95%), except for compounds 5-isopropyl-2-methylphenyl (E)-3-(3-hydroxy-4-methoxyphenyl)acrylate (17) (18.6%) and 2-isopropyl-5-methylphenyl (E)-3-(3-hydroxy-4-methoxyphenyl)acrylate (18) (15.5%).

Agroindustrial residues, such as leaves of fruit plants, can be sources of bioactive molecules, thus adding value to co-products that are rarely explored in agroindustry. In this context, this study aimed to look into the phytochemical profiles in detail and to explore the antitumor potential of S. tuberosa and S. mombin leaves. We observed that, S. tuberosa leaf extract was cytotoxic in both tumor and healthy cells. S. mombin extracts selectively inhibited cell proliferation in the tumor cell line for prostate cancer (PC3) and did not significantly affect healthy cells. The metabolic profiles of the extracts were evaluated by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry and twenty-three metabolites were identified. The correlation of metabolic profiles with cytotoxic tests indicated possible chemical markers that may be responsible for the inhibition of cell proliferation. This study revealed that the unexplored co-products in agroindustry may have great therapeutic potential, and therefore should be screened for biologically active compounds.

A series of 2-hydroxy-3-arylnaphthalene-1,4-diones (3-aryllawsones) were synthesized by Suzuki-Miyaura cross coupling reaction of 3-iodolawsone with arylboronic acids/esters. The hydroxylated resulting products were transformed into their corresponding N,N-diethyl carbamates. The antineoplastic and antileishmanial activities of the compounds were evaluated and compared with lapachol and its carbamate, providing promising results.