A synthetic approach to novel carvotacetone and antheminone analogues with anti-tumour activity

A synthetic approach to analogues of the terpenoid natural product antheminone A is described which employs (−)-quinic acid as starting material. A key conjugate addition step proved to be unpredictable regarding its stereochemical outcome however the route allowed access to two diastereoisomeric series of compounds. The results of biological assay of the toxicity of the target compounds towards non-small-cell lung cancer cell line A549 are reported.