Synthesis and biological activities of (-)-6-n-octyl-indolactam-V, a new potent analogue of the tumor promoter (-)-indolactam-V.

(-)-Indolactam-V (1) without a hydrophobic chain at positions 6 and 7 of the indole ring is a weak tumor promoter compared with teleocidin Bs. To investigate the effects of the hydrophobic substituent at position 6 of teleocidin Bs, we synthesized (-)-6-n-octyl-indolactam-V (2) by a palladium-catalyzed coupling reaction from (-)-6-bromo-indolactam-V (7) which had been obtained by microbial conversion with Streptoverticillium blastmyceticum NA34-17 as the key step. (-)-7-n-Octyl-indolactam-V (3) with potent biological activities comparable to those of teleocidin Bs was similarly synthesized from (-)-7-bromo-indolactam-V as a positive control. Compound 2 showed similar biological activities to those of 3, indicating that the effect of the hydrophobic substituent at position 6 of 1 was identical to that at position 7.