Design, synthesis and biochemical studies of new 7α-allylandrostanes as aromatase inhibitors

•Design and synthesis of new 7α-allylandrostanes as strong aromatase inhibitors.•Structure–activity relationships were carried-out.•The 1-ene analogues are more potent than the 3-deoxo analogues.•The C-17 carbonyl group is required to achieve maximum aromatase inhibition.

Two series of derivatives of 7α-allylandrostenedione, namely its 3-deoxo and 1-ene analogs, were designed and synthesised and their biochemical activity towards aromatase evaluated. In each of these series, the C-17 carbonyl group was further replaced by the hydroxyl and acetoxyl groups. The attained data pointed out that the absence of the C-3 carbonyl group led to a slightly decrease in the inhibitory activity and the introduction of an additional double bond in C-1 revealed to be a very beneficial structural change in the studied compounds (compound 12, IC50 = 0.47 μM, Ki = 45.00 nM). Furthermore, the relevance of the C-17 carbonyl group in the D-ring as a structural feature required to achieve maximum aromatase inhibitory activity is also observed for this set of derivatives.

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