A practical synthesis of propargylic alcohols was developed by alkynylation of aldehydes mediated by zinc and allyl bromide. Aromatic, aliphatic and vinyl aldehydes react with phenylacetylene or 1-hexyne to obtain various propargylic alcohols at room temperature in up to 98% yield. This method is characterized with inexpensive materials, wide substrate scope, and mild reaction conditions, and is also easy to scale up. In addition, this protocol is applicable to the alkynylation of α-ketone esters and epoxides to generate α-tertiary-hydroxy esters and α-alkynyl alcohols, respectively.

A practical method for the synthesis of oxindole–nitrones promoted by silica gel was developed with good results. The protocol is environmentally friendly as the reaction proceeds under solvent-free conditions with broad substrate scope, and high selectivity and chemical yield, and the silica gel can be quantitatively recovered and reused multiple times.

In a cell-based screen of novel antiproliferative agents, the hit compound 1a, which bears a benzofuransulfonamide scaffold, exhibited broad-spectrum antiproliferative activities against a panel of tumor cell lines. The promising in vitro antiproliferative activity and structural novelty of 1a prompted us to investigate the synthesis of five analogs of 1a and test their antiproliferative activities. The most potent analogue, 1h, exhibited enhanced antiproliferative activities compared with the parent 1a, and exhibited an IC50 value against NCI-H460 cells of 4.13 μM compared with 4.52 μM for the positive control cisplatin. Flow cytometric analysis revealed that 1h induces significant levels of apoptosis in NCI-H460 cells in vitro at low micromolar concentrations. These results suggest that 1a and analogs based on its benzofuransulfonamide scaffold may constitute a novel class of antiproliferative agents, which deserve further study.Analogs of 1a bearing a novel benzofuransulfonamide scaffold were synthesized and tested for their antiproliferative activities. Compound 1h could induce apoptosis in NCI-H460 cells in vitro at low micromolar concentrations.