Synthesis and bioevaluation of a series of α-pyrone derivatives as potent activators of Nrf2/ARE pathway (part I)

•We discovered a 3-phenyl-1-alpha-pyrones as an ARE activator.•One of five preliminarily synthesized compounds was used to explore the Nrf2/ARE pathway.•Other 20 compounds were synthesized and one compound was found with high ARE inductivity for further analysis.

When exposed to electrophiles, human colorectal cancer cells (HCT116) counteract oxidative stress through activating NF-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)/antioxidant response element (ARE) pathway. To identify new activators, luciferase reporter gene assay was used to screen in-house database of our laboratory, leading to a novel α-pyrone compound 1 as a hit. 2 with 2-fluoro phenyl group exhibited the strongest ARE inductive activity in the first round structure–activity relationship (SAR) study. Biological studies showed the compound induced nuclear translocation of Nrf2 preceded by phosphorylation of ERK1/2. The data encouraged us to use 2 as lead and 20 derivatives were synthesized to discuss a more detailed SAR, leading to a more potent compound 9, which can be the starting compound for further modification.

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