Progesterone utility in the synthesis of steroidal heterocyclic compounds with antitumor activity

One–pot and efficient method for the synthesis of progesteronpyridine 5a-c, 6a-c and 7a,b and/or progesteronpyran derivatives 9a-c and 10a,b by condensation reaction of progesterone 1 with different aldehydes and active methylene compounds in the presence of ammonium acetate or piperidine.  New progesteronopyrimidine derivatives 12a-d and 13a, b were synthesized via interaction of progesterone 1 with urea or thiourea and/or guanidine reagents and aldehyde. Progesterone 1 was examined to synthesize heterocyclic compound 16 containing ?-Lactone chiral carbon via the reaction of hydrazone derivative 14 with phenyl isothiocyanate followed by boiling with chloroacetic acid in benzene. The biological activity of compounds 5a, 5b, 6b, 7a, 9b, 9c, 12a, 12c, and 13a were evaluated as growth inhibitors of the liver and the breast carcinoma human cell line (HEPG2 & MCF7). Compounds 13a, 12a and 7a showed a higher potency than the standard. Key Words: Progesterone, MCR’s (multicomponents reaction), (pyridine, pyran, pyrimidine, ?-Lactone) derivatives, HEPG2 & MCF7