Synthesis and biological activity evaluation of cytidine-5'-deoxy-5-fluoro-N-[(alkoxy/aryloxy)] carbonyl-cyclic 2',3'-carbonates

Capecitabine, an oral prodrug of 5-FU was developed to improve the tumor selectivity and tolerability. To enhance the efficacy of capacitabine, a series of 5'-deoxy-5-fluorocytidine derivatives 5a-e were synthesized. In the present study, we investigated antitumor activity of 5'-deoxy-5-fluorocytidine derivatives both in vivo and in vitro methods. Title compounds were non-mutagenic to Salmonella typhimurium tester strain in Ames test. Compounds 5d and 5e are potent to inhibit the proliferation of NCI-69, PZ-HPV-7, MCF-7 and HeLa cells in MTT assay. In particular, 5d and 5e showed potent antitumor activities against L1210 leukemia cell line. Collectively, these findings suggest that 5d and 5e are more potent anti-cancer compounds than capecitabine.