Globally, human papillomavirus (HPV)
infection is the leading cause of mortality associated with
cervical cancer,
oral cancer (oropharyngeal), and
head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (
HNSCC). It is essential to explore anti-
cancer drugs against life-threatening
HPV infections. Aiming to search for potentially better
anticancer agents, a small library of β-C-glycosylated methylidene
succinimides have been synthesized under bulk and mechanical grinding conditions using the Wittig olefination reaction. Thus, the reaction of different 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-benzyl-C-glycosyl
aldehydes with N-aryl/alkyl
maleimides in the presence of PPh3 at 25 °C under bulk and mechanical grinding conditions results in the formation of stereochemically defined (E)-3-(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-benzyl-C-glycosylmethylidene)-N-alkyl/phenyl
succinimides, which upon debenzylation with 1 M BCl3 in DCM at -78 °C lead to the synthesis of (E)-3-(C-glycosylmethylidene)-N-alkyl/phenyl
succinimides in good to excellent yields. The developed methodology is efficient and environmentally benign because there is no use of organic
solvents, and the products are obtained in a stereochemically defined form and in high yields. The aqueous solubility of all synthesized β-C-glycosylated methylidene
succinimides makes them potential candidates for the evaluation of their different biological activities. In the present work, the synthesized glycosylated alkylidine
succinimides were subjected to an in-silico molecular docking study against the E6
oncoprotein of high-risk type HPV16, which is responsible for the inactivation of the
tumor suppressor p53
protein. Analysis of the molecular docking data revealed that the synthesized compounds are effective inhibitors of
HPV infection, which is the cause of oral, head and neck, and
cervical cancer. In comparison with the positive control
5-FU, an anti-
cancer drug used in
chemotherapy, more than fifteen compounds were found to be better E6
protein inhibitors.