An unprecedented reaction of thiourea derivatives with 6β-bromoandrostenedione has been discovered for the formation of aminothiazolo-androstenones via a simple, safer, cascade protocol that enables the syntheses of novel molecules by using readily available reagents. The reaction mechanism of product formation has been rationalized by density functional theory calculations. This benign methodology accentuates a domino protocol deploying a renewable solvent, ethanol, while generating novel compounds that display potent growth inhibitory effects in in vitro studies for several cancer cell lines at submicromolar concentrations.

Department of Chemistry and Physics College of Science and Mathematics Arkansas State University Jonesboro Arkansas 72467 United States

Department of Chemistry Sejong University Seoul 143 747 Republic of Korea

Regional Center of Advanced Technologies and Materials Faculty of Science Palacký University Olomouc Šlechtitelů 27 783 71 Olomouc Czech Republic

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