Synthesis of carbocyclic analogs of dehydroaltenusin: identification of a stable inhibitor of calf DNA polymerase α

Syntheses of carbocyclic analogs of dehydroaltenusin tautomers are reported. Both target compounds, cDHA (2,8-dihydroxy-6-methoxy-10a-methyl-10,10a-dihydrophenanthrene-3,9-dione) and cDHAs (4′,5-dihydroxy-6′-methoxy-2-methylspiro[cyclohexa[2,5]diene-1,1′-indene]-3′,4(2′H)-dione), were prepared from 3,5-dimethoxybenzaldehyde in 11 and 13 steps, respectively. Unlike dehydroaltenusin, both cDHA and cDHAs are stable and their structures were confirmed by X-ray crystallography. Compound cDHA was found to be active against calf DNA polymerase α but not related isozymes, while the spirocyclic analog cDHAs was inactive.

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