Curcusone diterpenoids and uses thereof

Abstract

The present disclosure provides the first asymmetric total synthesis and target identification of the curcusone natural products. The novel convergent synthesis is built upon a cheap and abundant chiral pool molecule (8) and features a thermal [3,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement and an FeCl3-promoted global hydrolysis/adol condensation cascade to rapidly construct the critical cycloheptadienone core. By performing chemoproteomics with the alkyne probe 37, we identified the previously 'undruggable' oncogenic protein BRAT1 as a key cellular target of 1d. Furthermore, 1d inhibits BRAT1 in cancer cells, thereby reducing cancer cell migration, increasing susceptibility to DNA damage, and inducing chemosensitization to the approved drug etoposide. Compound 1d is the first known small-molecule inhibitor for BRAT1, a master regulator of the DDR and DNA repair. Composition matters and methods of uses are within the scope of this disclosure.