Synthesis and Primary Research on Antitumor Activity of Three New Panaxadiol Fatty Acid Esters*

For making use of Ginseng resources that exhibit an antitumor activity and for finding new anticancer drugs, three new fatty acid ester compounds: 3β-acetoxy panaxadiol(I), 3β-palmitic acid aceloxy panaxadiol(II), and 3β-octadecanoic acid aceloxy panaxadiol(I, II, and III) were synthesized with panaxadiol, diacetyl oxide, palmityl chloride and stearyl chloride, and their structures were determined via MS, 13C NMR, IR, TLC, and so on. The molar yields of the three compounds are 75.14%, 79.08%, and 72.57%, respectively. Meanwhile, the antitumor activity of the three new panaxadiol fatty acid ester derivatives and panaxadiol was compared by using the method of MTT. Tumor cell used was Vero cell line. Positive control was 5-FU, blank was an RPMI1640 culture medium, negative control was an RPMI1640 culture medium and the solvent for drugs to be tested. Compound I has the strongest antitumor activity followed by panaxadiol; compounds II and III have similar and weakest antitumor activities. Furthermore, the antitumor activities of the panaxadiol fatty acid ester derivatives show positive correlation with the concentration of the test group, but show no relationship with the molecular weight of fatty acid. The methods that are used to synthesize the three compounds with high yields and strong antitumor activities are simple and show a great potential for meeting the needs of industrial manufacture of these drugs.