Correlation of cytotoxic activity of betulinines and their hydroxy analogues

This research is based on intention to prepare and test 3β-hydroxy and 3β,28-dihydroxy analogues of new pro-apoptotic derivatives (betulinines) using selective hydrolysis procedure and strategic protective groups. The evaluation of cytotoxicity of prepared compounds on several tumor cell lines using an MTT test was our interest. It was found that hydrolysis of acetates in betulinines afforded compounds with higher cytotoxicity in case of 18-lupene-21-ones (e.g., ethyl 3β-hydroxy-21-oxolup-18-en-28-oate), whereas hydrolysis of the 18-lupene-21,22-diones gave less active derivatives.