Synthesis and antiproliferative activity of D-ring substituted steroidal benzamidothiazoles

•A series of novel D-ring substituted steroidal benzamidothiazoles were designed and synthesized.•Antiproliferative activities of the newly synthesized derivatives were evaluated against two human cancer cell lines.•Compounds 8b, 8d and 8g exhibited moderate antiproliferative activities against SKOV-3 cells.

Using progesterone as the starting material, we synthesized a series of steroidal derivatives possessing a D-ring substituted benzamidothiazole. All of the final structures were reported and identified by NMR and HRMS spectrometry for the first time. The antiproliferative activity of the synthesized compounds against PC-3 (human prostate cancer cell line) and SKOV-3 (ovarian cancer cells) were investigated. The preliminary results showed that compounds 8b, 8d and 8g possessed moderate antiproliferative activities.

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