Design, Synthesis, and Antitumor Activity Evaluation of Novel Lupeol-3-urea/thiourea Derivatives

A series of novel lupeol-3-urea/thiourea derivatives were designed, synthesized and evaluated for their in vitro anticancer activity against human lung cancer A549, human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 and human breast cancer MCF-7 cell lines. The antitumor activities of all compounds were higher than that of parent Lupeol. Among them, lup-20(29)-en-3β-yl-piperazinecarboxylate-(2,4-fluorophenyl)urea showed the strongest antitumor activity against A549 cell lines, with an IC50 of 3.22 μM, which is tenfold than that of Lupeol. Therefore, lup-20(29)-en-3β-yl-piperazinecarboxylate-(2,4-fluorophenyl)urea can be used as a new lead compound for the development of more potent antitumor drugs.