A New Concise Synthesis of Arcyriacyanin A and Its Unique Inhibitory Activity against a Panel of Human Cancer Cell Line.

The nucleophilic addition reaction of N-tosyl-4-oxo-4, 5, 6, 7-tetrahydroindole (12) with the lithium salt of 1-methoxyindole (5), followed by dehydration with 2, 3-dichloro-5, 6-dicyano-1, 4-benzoquinone (DDQ) gave the derivative of 2, 4'-bi-1H-indole (9) which provides a new concise synthetic method of an indole pigment of the slime mould, arcyriacyanin A. The compound was first demonstrated here to have unique inhibitory activity to a panel of human cancer cell lines and to inhibit protein kinase C and protein tyrosine kinase.