Synthesis by Ring-Closing Metathesis and Cytotoxic Evaluation of Novel Thienylmacrolactones

This paper describes the synthesis and biological evaluation of macrolactones containing a thienyl substituent as simple analogues of epothilones. The compounds were prepared in a brief and efficient manner from thiophene-2-carbaldehyde using a ring-closing metathesis with Grubbs I or Grubbs II catalyst as the key step. The target lactones showed only insignificant cytotoxicity, while an intermediate simple thienyl carbinol showed very promising cytotoxicity.