Synthesis and biological evaluation of 3-arylisoquinolines as antitumor agents

To investigate the structure-activity relationship of 7,8-dimethoxy-2-methyl-3-(4,5-methylenedioxy-2-vinylphenyl)isoquinolin-1(2H)-one2, diverse substituted 3-arylisoquinolines were synthesized and tested in vitro antitumor activity against five human tumor cell lines. The results showed a broad antitumor spectrum for a series of 3-arylisoquinolines.